ACTUAL CAUTERY. 135 



to destroy morbid and fungoid growths ; to staunch hemor- 

 rhage; to score the skin, under a notion that the torture 

 the animal endures strengthens the part burnt. The cautery, 

 lightly applied, will inflame and bhster the surface; im- 

 pressed with more force, it will destroy the tissue with which 

 it is in contact. 



The Use of the Cautery, to the credit of our art, is on 

 the decline. The farriers of former days had always the firing 

 iron in their hands : with these barbarous instruments they 

 opened abscesses and penetrated tumours, introduced setons, 

 cleansed sores, and scored the skin for lamenesses of all 

 descriptions : indeed, now-a-days, we occasionally meet with 

 some horse bearing marks of having been scored over every 

 joint in his body. This barbarous practice is, however, much 

 diminished : the improvements of modern times have shown 

 that we can afford the same relief in a much more humane 

 manner. I need say little more on the subject here ; since 

 I shall have occasion to recur to it hereafter. It is our duty 

 before we put an animal to torture, to be thoroughly con- 

 vinced it is necessary for its cure or relief: for if I thought 

 the same benefit could be produced by mild means, I should 

 certainly adopt them. In fact, I esteem it one of the 

 boasts of modern veterinary surgery, that the red hot iron 

 is in many cases superseded by equally efficacious measures : 

 arid let us hope the day is not far distant when we shall 

 require its aid even less than we do at present. 



