Dog Surgeons

As its leading editorial last week, the ultrarespectable American Journal of Surgery ran an "enthusiastic" discussion of "Dog Surgery and Self Development" by Drs. Clyde Merideth Jr. and Thomas Peck Butcher of Emporia, Kans. Small-town surgeons, said they, with little chance to show their versatility, can keep in trim by practicing on dogs. "Skill . . . had much better be developed at the expense of the dog than at the expense of the patient.

"For the past 18 months," they continued in conspiratorial tones, "we have met one morning a week in the basement of an isolated home and have operated upon dogs for from four to six hours at a time. . . . Only animals which are in the pound and which are to be exterminated anyway are used. The dog is handled and anesthetized in a manner which is much more humane than that employed in the dog pounds.

"Dog surgery has given us what every surgeon covets--the opportunity to practice a wide variety of techniques, to develop ambidexterity, and to learn to think of technical problems which arise in the course of an operation in terms of tissues instead of personalities. . . ."

So far, the doctors have performed heart, intestine, nerve and throat operations.

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