REiMEDlES FOR SPAVIN. 109 



to have recourse to the heated iron in almost eveiy case of lame- 

 ness belonging to the leg'' — " He had performed (with it) hundreds 

 of cures that could not have been accomplished by other means." — 

 " For osseous tumours, for lesions of the thecse of the tendons, 

 whether the perforatus or perforans ; for all injuries of the sus- 

 pensory ligament, &c. is there — he spoke to practical men — any 

 thing equal to the firing- iron? The same with tumours on the 

 outer and inner ancle. The same with spavins" 



Mr. Simonds regarded the question as one of comparative value 

 and usefulness. " In the incipient stage of spavin, a seton might 

 arrest the progress of the evil ; but when there had been bony 

 deposit, and the action of the joint had been interfered with, 

 nothing but the actual cautery could effect a cure." 



Mr. Braby was decidedly of opinion that, " with regard to most 

 of the lamenesses of the horse, setons were quite inefficient, and 

 must give way to the scientific application of the cautery." 



Mr. Hutchinson. — " I have had horses under my care with 

 spavin which I have fired in the usual way without any good 

 effect. I then have had recourse to the seton, and they have be- 

 come sound." And this " was bone spavin, and I fired deeply." 



Mr. Spooner — Deputy Professor, Royal Veterinary College — 

 admitted to the fullest extent the action of the cautery as "a 

 counter-irritant," and to a considerable extent its action as " a local 

 depletive ;" but repudiated the notion of its acting " as a band- 

 age." — " He was an advocate for firing in certain cases ; and he 

 undoubtedly agreed with Mr. Turner — when you fire, fire !" 



Mr. Turner (James) did not wish to decry the operation of 

 setoning ; he knew the occasional good effects of setons, but he 

 also knew the good effects, the incalculable benefits, arising from 

 firing.- — " He could not refuse to divulge one startling fact arising 

 from the firing operation. He called it ' startling,' for the effect 

 was magical. Whether he undertakes the cure of ringbone or 

 spavin, or of osseous tumours generally, or of ligamentous swell- 

 ings, the very moment that he penetrates the tumour to a cer- 

 tain depth, the lameness vanishes, and the patient becomes in a 

 manner a sound horse. This may be considered as a novelty in 



