44 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
In most instances, so great and instantaneous is the shock to the 
brain from a gunshot wound that death follows instantly, and there- 
fore opening the blood-vessels is not required. 
The pistol used should carry a large bullet, not smaller than a rifle- 
ball. A shot-gun loaded with buck-shot is as effectual at a point-blank 
range, and may often be more conveniently procured. : 
3. By Chloroform. — Procure a common feed-bag or small sack 
made of thick cotton cloth, or of any sufficiently strong material, pro- 
vided with strings or a strap to fasten over the head, and at the bot- 
tom of this place a large sponge or a yard of flannel folded to the size 
of eight inches square. 
The animal having been led to the spot selected, the sponge or flan- 
nel is to be saturated with the chloroform and the bag adjusted. If 
the suffocation and consequent struggling, which at first attend the 
administration of anesthetics, are very great, the application of the 
chloroform may be gradual, the animal being allowed to respire the 
outward air for a moment, until these effects pass off. As it is by the 
exclusion of common air, however, that death is produced, the more 
persistently the administration of the chloroform is kept up, the more 
speedy will be the desired result. 
The dose requisite varies very much according to circumstances. 
At least sixteen ounces of chloroform should be procured, and it should 
be freshly applied through a small slit in the bag every few minutes 
until death ensues, which will be from fiye to ten or fifteen minutes 
after the beginning of the operation. 
The difficulties attending the administration of chloroform to so 
large and powerful an animal as the horse, particularly at the hands © 
of the inexperienced, render its use less applicable in producing death 
than either of the other methods. In cases where sickness and conse- 
quent debility have reduced the animal and made him less capable of 
struggling, it answers a good purpose, but, as a general rule, we do not 
recommend its use where the normal amount of strength stillremains. _ 
If the animal to be killed is to be buried without removing the 
skin, a pit may be dug, large enough for a grave, one end of which 
should be so excavated as to make an inclined plane, down which the 
horse can be led. When in the pit, his head is in a convenient posi- 
tion for the axe or the bullet, and when he drops he falls in his graye, 
and the labor of removing the body is entirely avoided. : 
