114 REMEDIES FOR SPAVIN. 



curved in their blades : the material of which the cautery is made 

 being iron in preference to the copper, as used by Vegetius and 

 SoUeysell. In point of efficacy it can make very little differ- 

 ence whether the lines or scores drawn with the firing iron be 

 parallel or angular or crosswise : my own notion accords Avith 

 Solleysell's, that they should be drawn '^ downwards," i.e. run 

 parallel one to another. My rule is, that their direction in all cases 

 be regulated hy the course of the hair. It is certain that, so drawn, 

 they leave less blemish than when drawn athwart the growth of 

 the hair, and that this is equally as eflfectual as firing performed in 

 any other way. The only drawback being — and it must be con- 

 fessed this is a serious one — that, the proprietor of the fired horse not 

 being so well pleased with the appearance of the work, " the skill 

 of the horse-doctor" will fail to be so much '' commended." This 

 FANCY-FIRING, as it may be called, has, as I have before said, en- 

 tailed the necessity of casting horses for the operation ; and this, 

 of itself, is an objection to it of no mean account ; for when we 

 come to consider how many accidents have occurred in casting, 

 even under the most careful and judicious hands, and that every 

 horse that is cast — although it must be acknowledged the chances 

 against being hurt are very great in his favour — runs a risk, re- 

 mote though it be, of injury, it certainly must be considered de- 

 sirable for veterinarians to hold up and practise a method of fir- 

 ing which does not call for the throwing of the subject. 



The Primary or instant Effect of the Actual Cau- 

 tery on the skin is to sear and to divide it : the division of the 

 cutis being frequently attended — especially when the edge of the 

 iron, instead of being rounded off, as it ought to be, is sharp — by 

 some trifling haemorrhage, and constantly by the destruction of 

 such subcutaneous cellular tissue as the cautery happens to come 

 in contact with. Pain, felt or expressed a great deal more by 

 some horses than by others, accompanies the searing ; annoyance 

 from " the fire in the parts," and irritation follows, great or little 

 in amount, according to the extent of surface fired, the depth or 

 superficiality of the firing, the susceptibility or idiosyncrasy of the 

 subject, &c. 



Secondary Effect.— -For the first and second days after 



