When the patient is a young and otherwise valuable animal, however, and when the case, judged either by the size of the swelling or its outside appearance, promises a fair measure of success, operative measures may be determined on.

In this case the author’s practice has been, after casting the animal, to apply a tourniquet to the limb and proceed to excision.  A lozenge-shaped incision, extending to near but not quite the circumference of the swelling, should be made with a large knife right through the skin and deeply into the growth.  The whole is then removed, proceeding in an excavating manner under the thickened skin at the margin.  Haemorrhage, though proceeding from several apparently large vessels in the structure of the tumour, and oozing generally over the whole of the outer surface, is rarely profuse enough to interfere with the operation, and is easily controlled by cold water douches and the application of the artery forceps to one or more of the larger vessels.  The operation completed, the larger bleeding-points should be secured by exerting torsion with the artery forceps, and the surface oozing stayed by frequent dashing with cold water.

When the haemorrhage has sufficiently ceased, an ordinary flat firing-iron should be passed over the whole of the cut surface, and an effectual eschar formed.

Following this, and before removing the tourniquet, the wound should be filled with pledgets of carbolized tow, and the whole tightly secured by a stout and broad linen bandage of not less than 6 yards in length.

Reported Case.—­’The patient, a middle-aged cart mare, had a pair of fore-feet the like of which I never saw.  As the result of long-standing and imperfectly-treated quittor all over the seat of side-bone on the outer side of each fore-foot, beginning pretty far forward, and extending to the heel on the inner side, filling up the hollow and reaching nearly to the fetlock, was a big, bulging, hard, calloused enlargement or tumour standing out 3 or 4 inches all round, covered with thick horny skin and stubby hair, and having on its surface the small openings of several sinuses leading deeply down to the ossified and diseased cartilage underneath.  And yet with all this diseased undergrowth the mare, strangely enough, walked and trotted sound.  I was told that this mare had been troubled with suppurating corns and quittor, that many unsuccessful attempts had been made at cure, but that, getting worse instead of better, these tumours had formed.

’After casting and anaesthetizing, a strong rubber tourniquet was placed above the knee and the operation commenced.  With a surgeon’s amputating knife all the big fibrous mass which I could safely remove was cut and sliced off, and the coronet and pastern reduced as nearly as possible to its natural dimensions.  The diseased cartilage, or side-bone, gave some trouble, a considerable portion having to be cut and scraped, and the sinus in it gouged out; but its complete removal did not appear to be called for.