. Manual of operative veterinary surgery. Veterinary surgery. FIG. 297.—Tail Cautery. AMPUTATIONS. 281 either case attempts may be made to ligate or to employ torsion of the arteries, but the hemostatic generally employed is the actual cautery. The tail-cautery, heated to nearly a white heat, is firmly held upon the trimcated tail for a few seconds until it has stopped the hemorrhage. To assist this process and obtain the formation of a thicker scab, certain com- bustible substances are some- times placed upon the wound before the cautery is applied, to increase the heat by their igni- tion. A
. Manual of operative veterinary surgery. Veterinary surgery. FIG. 297.—Tail Cautery. AMPUTATIONS. 281 either case attempts may be made to ligate or to employ torsion of the arteries, but the hemostatic generally employed is the actual cautery. The tail-cautery, heated to nearly a white heat, is firmly held upon the trimcated tail for a few seconds until it has stopped the hemorrhage. To assist this process and obtain the formation of a thicker scab, certain com- bustible substances are some- times placed upon the wound before the cautery is applied, to increase the heat by their igni- tion. A ring of hair or a httle pulverized resia may be employed for this purpose. We have before noted that in this measure of hemostasia there is much that is repulsive and coarse, and that it is not at all ia har- mony with the spirit of modern scientific surgery, and we have long felt a conviction that a great improvement is possible in the manipulation of such a case. We have, therefore, made the matter one of careful experimentation, and the conclusion we have reached is that the following course of procedure will meet all the indica- tions and fulfil aU the purposes contemplated, and at the same time avoid the compHcations likely to occur, and obviate the objections of the sensitive and the timid, besides securing results entirely satisfactory to all the parties concerned. First, to render the operation painless, we inject cocaine at two or three points in the circumference of the tail skin. Then, around the tail, and above the ring made by chpping the hair, as before mentioned, to mark the place of amputation, we place a narrow elastic band at a tension merely sufficient to stop the hemorrhage. Having waited for the full effect of the anesthetic, and accurately identified the center of the articulation between two of the vertebrae through which we intend to amputate, with a strong and sharp bistoury we make rapidly a circular incision of the skin entirely around the tail, an
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