130 OPERATIVE TECHNIQUE. 



and almost entirely masks the little smooth cicatrices left by the 

 cautery. This is one of the chief advantages of this method. 



Whatever the degree of firing and the mode employed, a certain 

 period of rest is needed. As a rule, after the lapse of the first or second 

 week, it is well to exercise the animal daily for twenty minutes to half 

 an hour. If possible the animal should be sent to grass at the end of 

 two or three weeks, the rest given extending from one up to three 

 months. In injuries to the tendons in spavin and some other con- 

 ditions such rest is absolutely essential. 



The operation may be complicated in various ways. Thus the skin 

 may be divided and a gaping wound produced ; capillary haemorrhage 

 may result, or the fired surfaces may be torn. Such results may, 

 however, be avoided by reasonable care. Loss of skin and the forma- 

 tion of large cicatrices following too severe a use of the iron are more 

 serious. When such results threaten means must at once be taken to 

 prevent sloughing. The frequent application of the cold spray is 

 one of the most common methods ; if conjoined with an antiseptic 

 lotion it is more useful, it cleanses the parts, and removes the irritating 

 exudate which exaggerates the inflammatory symptoms. Lotions and 

 astringent compresses moistened with weak acetate of lead, Goulard's 

 extract or alum solution have also been recommended. Lukewarm 

 antiseptic baths followed by dusting with iodoform or a mixture of 

 iodoform and tannin are preferable. Nocard highly recommends 

 spraying with an ethereal solution of iodoform. He says that it 

 abolishes suppuration, and checks the microbic infection of the wounds 

 resulting from the removal of the scabs. Haemorrhage resulting from 

 puncture of a vein or arteriole by the needle is without danger. It 

 either ceases spontaneously, or can be stopped by introducing into the 

 little cutaneous puncture a small tampon of wadding, or by applying a 

 compress dressing. 



Subcutaneous cauterisation, recommended in Italy, appears to 

 present no marked advantages, and may be dismissed here with the 

 statement that the skin is first divided, the edges held apart, and the 

 globular-headed iron applied directly to the deep-seated structures 

 thus exposed. In times past it was not unusual to fire sound horses 

 with the idea of preventing the formation of ring-bones, spavins, etc. 

 Needless to say, such a course is not only inhuman but absolutely 

 useless. 



