186 OPERATIONS ON THE SKIN AND CELLULA.K TISSUE. 



(e) JBad cicatrices. — Though, firing, however carefully apj)lied, 

 will always be followed by legible marks, there are cases in which 

 bad, callous cicatrices form a positive and repulsive life-long dis- 

 figurement of the animal. In the most aggravated forms of the ac- 

 cidents enumerated, there are circumstances which particularly 

 favor their occurrence. Among these may be regarded the thin- 

 ness and sensitiveness of the skin, the interference of the animal 

 himself, by rubbing and biting, and an excessive suppurative 

 action accompanying the falling off of the scabs. No treatment 

 is known that can be made effective against these lesions, but it 

 is satisfactory to know that they do not inhere in the operation, 

 and are preventable in the exercise of proper skill by the operator, 

 and attention by the nurse. 



EXUTORIES. 



An executory is any therapeutic agency or means the effect of 

 which is to promote the formation of purulent matter, and to 

 sustain the suppurative process after it has been established. 

 Some exutories have no sj^ecial intrinsic quahties, and simply 

 take effect in the manner characteristic of foreign bodies when 

 lodged in any portion of the system ; while, on the other hand, 

 some of them possess specific properties by which a special irrita- 

 tion is produced in the tissues with which they come in contact. 

 The various forms of seton are included in the first class; 

 the trochiscus, bhsters, however composed, the moxa, and the 

 actual cautery belong to the second. But while the fact of 

 the utilization of the operation is as old as the practice of 

 medicine itself, the modes of application and the materials used 

 have varied considerably during various epochs. The use of the 

 root of black hellebore was recommended for diseases of the ears 

 in large ruminants, and also in the treatment of diseases of the 

 chest, or in oedematous swellings of the abdomen. 



At a later period, the actual cautery found its advocates in 

 the treatment of tetanus. The introduction of feathers, or long 

 quills under the skin, in the treatment of old shoulder lameness, 

 followed, and in some parts of the world this practice has not yet 

 been wholly abandoned. Sometimes the feathers were used 

 alone, and in other cases air was blown into the cellular tissue 

 under the skin, in the parts where they were to be placed. The 



