THE SUMMERING OF HUNTERS. 141 



plus remainiDg in the repaired part is a source of 

 weakness to the part, then firing, or blistering, or 

 mercurialising will break up the extra material, and 

 it will be removed by absorbtion — a process we have 

 already explained — and so will strengthen the parts. 

 If, again, the skin be deeply fired, it changes it 

 physically in this way : the skin lies loose over a 

 part, and can be pinched up ; but if it is fired 

 through, it adheres deeply and firmly to the parts 

 over which it lies. From being yielding and elastic 

 it is converted into a non-yielding tough covering, 

 strongly bound down to the parts beneath, and acts 

 as a bandage. 



It will be seen by the foregoing remarks in what 

 ways firing strengthens a part. Firing can never 

 make a long pastern into a short one ; so that in the 

 instance we have named firing will do no further 

 good than turning the skin into a bandage in sup- 

 port of the tendons which are overstrained. It may 

 ,do much harm, however. When any part whatever 

 works under a constant difficulty, processes are set 

 up in the part which tend to repair, remove, or 

 otherwise mitigate the efi'ects of the difficulty, and 

 we cannot be over-careful in our meddling with 

 these processes. Experts alone can in most cases 

 judge what is best to be done, or, we might rather 

 have said, what is best not done. If a part has 

 more work thrown upon it than it can well bear, it 

 enlarges and strengthens (" hypertrophies," as the 

 process is technically called), and thus gets over the 



