12 
C. E. CLAYTON. 
and behind the radius, pass the finger upward in a vertical direc¬ 
tion, which you will see does not run parallel to either the front 
or back of forearm. When arrived at the axillary space, where 
the skin is very much wrinkled, you will feel the finger pass 
over a ridge, which will be the inferior border of the sterno- 
aponeuroticus, and commencing at about one inch above this in¬ 
ferior border of the muscle make an incision of about i y 2 
inches in a downward direction and on this imaginary line 
which you have traced ; this incision will be sufficiently large 
if made according to these directions. This will expose the 
muscle already named, which is divided in the direction of its 
fibres, which are downward. This reveals the loose cellular 
tissue which is here abundant; this is torn loose by forceps or 
the handle of the scalpel, but preferably cut, as there is less thick¬ 
ening left when wound is healed than when done by the tear¬ 
ing process, and I believe in any operation, where it is possible 
to cut, to do so in preference to tearing, as they heal so much 
more quickly and with less cicatrix. We now have exposed the 
antibrachial fascia which is attached to the posterior border of 
radius ; make a slight puncture in this about y inch behind 
the radius, pass the director in this opening and with scalpel or 
blunt-pointed bistoury enlarge opening the same size as one in 
skin. Let me caution you to follow this mode of opening the 
aponeurosis and thereby avoid a rather annoying complication 
which I once experienced, which was a violent struggle on the 
part of the animal, and the scalpel went in too deep and punc¬ 
tured the vein, and the flow of blood very much interfered with 
the operation by obscuring the field ; with your blunt retractors 
draw back the edges of the wound, together with the internal 
portion of the internal flexor metacarpi, with plain dissecting 
forceps, and by no means use rat-toothed or bull-dog forceps, as 
they are called, as you might puncture the vein, which is an¬ 
noying, as before stated. Isolate the nerve, but first find it, and 
know it when you see it. This ought to be easy if it was al¬ 
ways where the books say it is ; my experience has led me to 
believe that if there is any one place in the body where relations 
