442 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
rient paresis with the best results. In the ten cases treated with 
it to date, a complete and thorough recovery has resulted in 
every case, without leaving any complication, as was often the 
case under the old treatment. 
The most obstinate case was a patient which had a severe 
turn the year previous ; she was down five days and the treat¬ 
ment was applied three times, and she made a splendid 
recovery. 
The other cases all got up in from seven to twenty-four 
hours. Yours truly, 
H. Chambers, M. R. C. V. S. 
AS TO THE ANAESTHETIC ACTION OF COCAINE. 
St. Anthony’s Park, Minn., July 20, 1899. 
Editors American Veterinary Review : 
Dear Sirs :—I notice in the July issue of the American 
Veterinary Review that Dr. A. F. Abbott reports that he 
has found several horses in which the local anaesthetic effect of 
cocaine could not be produced, although the physiological effect 
was marked. There is also an editorial comment concerning 
similar experiences in practice. I have had at least one such 
case in which I failed to secure anaesthesia. I first injected 5 per 
cent, cocaine, over the posterior digital nerves of one front limb 
without result. I subsequently injected cocaine, same solution, 
over the plantar nerves in the usual way, and tried especially 
to put the cocaine as near the nerves as possible, but without 
result. I afterwards made another trial, this time injecting a 
sufficient quantity of 10 per cent, solution over the plantar 
nerves, waited six minutes and then applied elastic spiral ban¬ 
dage in such a way as to force a portion of the blood out of the 
superficial parts, beginning at the hoof. The elastic bandage was 
left tightly applied above the site of injection. In this way I 
have usually secured the most profound anaesthetic effect, but 
in this instance there was only a very slight loss of sensation 
over the inner half of the pastern and apparently no effect at 
all over the outer half of this region. The pressure above the 
site of injection was continued for perhaps an hour, and most 
of the cocaine must have been retained in the tissues surround¬ 
ing the plantar nerves. 
Cocaine from the same bottle was used repeatedly on cases 
that had come in previously and others that came subsequently, 
so that my experience cannot be charged to poor cocaine. 
M. H. Reynolds. 
