Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-29
VETERINARY.
KILLING HORSES EASILY.

scienee p,.eu.se. something that was Prac-
,iecd b, a ylrsin,an Mapy Years Aso.
To the Editor Of the Dispatch;
| inclose herewith an article which
appeared in the New York Nal and
Erpress few days ago, and which
does great injustice to DIR. John X.
Page. the learned professor Of zoology
and agriculture at the University OF
Virginia. The claim that the mode OF
killing horses by the introduction oil
air into the jugalar vein is "a new dis
covery in SCIENCE" is not true. / hap
pened to be in Lynchburg, connected
with the medical department OF
the Confederate army in 1864,
and ON intimate terms with DIR.
Page. when he was constantly
killing condemned army horses by that
process. As soon as the article met
my eye wrote to DR.. Page, calling his
attention to it. In his reply to me he
says: You are right in aging that /
was the first person who killed horses
and other animals by injecting air into
the external jugular vein, and the fact
is too well known and can be substan-
tiated by too many living witnesses to
be disputed. My process was to cut
through the skin, over the vein, with a
scalpel or knife, nicka little slip in the
vein and insert part of gum catheter
in the direction towards the heart, then
to blow into the catheter two or three
breaths of air. ! had killed several
herses by this process before
the war, but during the win
ter of 1864. while investigating
CHAMBERS and other diseases Of horses
for the Confederate Government, kill
ed over hundred, and taught two ne
groes to be so expert that horse would
be killed and opened in the space Of
five minutes. / published short ac-
count of having performed this opera
ton on crippled horse short time
before the war, but cannot recall now
in what journal. ! never saw it done
or heard of its being done until | did it,"
| sincerely hope that the New York
Mail and Express will do DR.. Page the
Justice to reproduce what have writ
ten above in the columns Of their pa
per. 1. ROBERTS BAKER.
The article enclosed to us by Mr..
Baker is headed Painless Death for
Horses-Sciepce Discovers a New Me-
thod to Ease Their Path to the Grave"
and is as follows:
The veterinary surgeons Of this city
are discussing new method by which
a wounded horse may be killed without
resorting to the old and inhuman prac-
tice of using a gun or an axe. a sue
cessful experiment was recently tried
by DR.. l.. A. Anderson, of Coyington,
Ky. lie was called to examine horse
in the southern portion of Coyington.
lie found the brute suffering with a
contagious disease. lie recommended
that he be killed. The owner said he
wanted the horse put to death with as
little suffering as possible, and asked
DR.. AndersOn's advice as to the best
method. The Doctor recommended the
same plan, by which he killed horse
for a gentleman on Spring Hill last
spring, which was by introducing air
into the jugular vein. The horse was
taken to convenient place, and then
pressure was made on the jugular vein,
and a small instrument called trOcar,
with shield on the outside was plunged
directly into the jugular vein. The
part that made the puncture was with
drawn and the tube left in the vein
and air was then blown into the tube by
the Doctor. The air following the blood
directly to the heart produced clot or
coagulation, suspended the hearts &C
ton and caused an almost instant and
painless death, similar to fatal case
of heart-disease. In the case at Gov
ington. as soon as the clot was formed
the animal dropped slowly on his side
and breathed heavily for few seconds
and then expired without any apparent
pain. There was quite large number
of persons present to witness the OPP
Grafton. This plan was introduced
into veterinary science few years ago,
but there has seldom been q successful
test-case Of it.