SITFAST. 193 



be clearly and finally understood it can be 

 effected mily by EXTIRPATION; an ope- 

 ration so very trifling it will not admit of a 

 moment's hesitation and may be taken off 

 with a common penknife, and healed as a 

 superficial wound. But the most ready and 

 least painful method of taking it off is by 

 just raising either edge till it can be taken 

 hold of with a pair of common pincers ; 

 when, by leaning them to any side, you have 

 an immediate fulcrum, or lever, and sepa- 

 rate it instantaneously without pain or in- 

 convenience. After the extirpation it may 

 be treated as a simple superficial laceration, 

 and may in general be healed by a frequent 

 application of Friar s balsam^ tincture of myrrh ^ 

 or, in very trifling cases, with a little common 

 brandy. 



But after the cure, care should always be 

 taken to guard the cicatrix in its infancy, 

 and prevent the buckle of the girth from 

 coming into direct contact with the injured 

 part, not only till the surface is sufficiently, 

 hardened to render a repetition unlikely, but 

 upon all future occasions/ And here it can- 

 not prove inapplicable to remind every horse^ 



VOL. I. O 



