134 TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 



needles : b and d are sharp-pointed ; e and f represent the 

 handle to which they are all four fitted ; and into which 

 either of them is fastened^ at any part that may best suit 

 the operator, by a screw g. 



The best material for setons is the coarse or beggar^ s tape, 

 as it is called; which will admit of being medicated in any 

 manner the operator may fancy. I would warn the young 

 practitioner against tying the ends of the seton together, 

 which is liable to hitch upon projections, and be torn out 

 with laceration of the skin. The ends had better be made 

 into knots, as I have ordered in my directions, and left 

 hanging out of the extremities of the wound. 



Places convenient for Insertion. — Setons may be in- 

 troduced almost in any part of the body : rowels, on the 

 other hand, can be inserted but in places where the skin is 

 loose. The throat, chest, belly, and thigh, are the common 

 situations for rowels ; but setons we put in any part of the 

 body. 



ACTUAL CAUTERY. 



The cautery literally means anything that burns. Now, 

 in medicine, there are two things employed by way of 

 cautery : the one is a heated iron ; the other any caustic 

 substance, such as lunar caustic ; the latter, by way of dis- 

 tinction, being called the potential cautery. While there is 

 nothing more painful in its application than a red-hot iron, 

 its efi'ects are of the most powerful description ; it is, there- 

 fore, wisely regarded as a last resort : at least, those who 

 otherwise employ it, would seem to be possessed of little 

 feeling, or to be influenced by erroneous convictions. In 

 this view it was regarded by veterinary surgeons of past ages. 

 Hippocrates states the rule amongst his aphorisms, and La- 

 fosse, the celebrated French farrier, copying from this ancient 

 author, enforces the same thing. 



The Operation of the Cautery will depend on the de- 

 gree to which it is heated. It will pain, irritate, inflame, 

 destroy. We employ it to excite violent counter-irritation ; 



