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The Mishna on our daf describes how the kohen gadol, having completed the zerikat ha-dam - the sprinkling of the blood - on the parokhet of the Holy of Holies, now turns his attention to the zerikat ha-dam that he is obligated to do on the golden altar in the heikhal (see Vayikra 16:18).
As the Torah commands, the kohen gadol takes the blood of the par (bull) and of the se'ir (goat), mixes them together, and places blood from the mixture on each of the four karnot ha-mizbe'ah ("horns" of the altar). According to the Tanna Kamma, the kohen gadol walks around the altar, sprinkling blood on each corner.
Rabbi Eliezer disagrees, arguing that the kohen gadol stood in one spot and simply reached over the altar, sprinkling blood as necessary. To understand Rabbi Eliezer's position, it is important to remember that the mizbe'ah ha-zahav - the golden altar - was only two cubits tall and one cubit in length and width, which allowed him to easily reach over it.
This leads us to Naftali Cohn's thesis regarding the THE RITUAL NARRATIVE GENRE IN THE MISHNAH: THE INVENTION OF THE RABBINIC PAST IN THE REPRESENTATION OF TEMPLE RITUAL and his exhaustive bibliography of recent scholarship on Mishnah.