426 
M. H. REYNOLDS. 
Surgery .—There are several operations commonly done by 
surgeons in human practice that we make no attempt to perforin. 
Our patients rarely, if ever, have appendicitis, and the removal 
of this organ in the horse or cow would be a rather formidable 
operation, inasmuch as the equine appendix is about three feet 
long, with a capacity of seven and a half gallons. The cow has 
an appendix that measures about seven feet. It is scarcely 
possible in general practice to furnish ideal conditions during 
operation, and we cannot control our patients to the same extent 
after the operation. 
Operations are usually performed as a matter of business as 
far as the owner is concerned. Sentiment does not play so im¬ 
portant a part, but, after all, we have reason to be fairly well 
pleased with the veterinary operative surgery of to-day. An 
accurate knowledge of anatomy enables us to use cocaine as an 
aid in the diagnosis of obscure lameness. If we anaesthetize the 
sensory nerve supply to a certain muscle or ligament or an en¬ 
tire articulation, and the horse, which previously went lame, 
afterwards goes sound, we have fairly satisfactory proof as to the 
exact location of the injury. To illustrate : a patient recently 
came to the University Veterinary Hospital with a badly 
swollen ankle and a history of injury while training on the 
track several years ago. ‘Examination easily demonstrated that 
trouble at the ankle was responsible for some of the lameness, 
but upon further examination I found an unusually bad case of 
thrush, and, while considering the advisability of a certain 
operation for relief, the question arose as to what part, if any, of 
the lameness was due to thrush. I cocainized the posterior 
digital nerves just below the ankle and noticed that the horse 
continued to go lame as before. I then cocainized the plantar 
nerves just above the ankle, and in from twelve to fifteen 
minutes the horse was apparently free from lameness. I had 
then located the trouble causing lameness. Veterinary surgeons 
are now doing quite a long list of neurectomies for the relief of 
lameness and the results are very satisfactory on accurately 
diagnosed and well selected cases. We are cutting the median 
o 
