25S 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 

 Fig. 68. 



VOL. I. 



cases, — it must have failed in four out of thr 

 six, from the manner in which it had beei 

 performed. This might seem to afford a hin 

 to the advocates of the practice, tobore??ear 

 er the head. But one of my neighbors, r 

 very extensive and experienced grazier ant' 

 feeder, says, that he formerly bored near thi 

 head, but finding corrupted horn frequent h^ 

 to follow the operation, he has latterly bore( 

 nearer the tip, and he now seldom xees cor- 

 rupted horn. This testimony strongly cor- 

 roborates my opinion, that putrid horn is gene- 

 rally caused by boring, and shows that borini; 

 above the cavity is less dangerous than boring 

 into it. 



It has been stated in a former number, thai 

 the bone of the horn is nourished by the pp- 

 riosteum, and that the true horn, or shell 

 grows from the root, and derives its nourish- 

 ment from that source. This was admitter 

 without further examination ; 1. becausf 

 bones generally possess a periosteum, and 

 are nourished by it. 2. Because the repara- 

 tion of the injury from borin?. appeared U 

 take place in the pith — the perforation in the 

 shell never being filled up. This reasoning 

 satisfied me until I was informed by a dealer 

 in horns, that the pith of a bored horn, woiilci 

 not come out of the shell. If the injured pith 

 was merely repaired by a deposit of new 

 bone, I could not see how the separation 

 would bo prevented, and commenced an ex- 

 amination immediately. In every bored horn 

 which I have examined, a portion of bone has 

 been absorbed, around the opening in the 

 R\\e\\. forming a conical cavity in the pith, cor- 

 responding to the extent of the injury. Ii 

 those cases, where the instrument had passet 

 through to the opposite side of the shell, o 

 smaller excavation, has uniformly been fount! 

 on that side of the pith also — the two cones 



meeting in the centre, so as to form an hour 

 glass shaped opening through the bone. Thi; 

 opening was filled with a similar shaped de^ 

 posit oibone firmly united with the interioi 

 of the shell. Where two cones of horn exist 

 ed, their points were always united. The 

 larger cone, next the bore in the shell, was 

 always hollow, to a greater or less extent 

 where the instrument had penetrated the 

 bone. In one instance where the whole horr 

 had been transpierced, a hollow tube or cylin- 

 der of horn, passed quite through. 



Fig. G9. 



Fig. G9. A section where the instrumen 

 did not enter the cavity. 



Figs. 70 and 71. Sections of the horn 

 which had been bored above the cavity 

 They exhibit a remarkable uniformity in th 

 progress of cure from similar injuries. 



Fig. 72. A section where the horn had bee: 

 transpierced. 



In all the cases, the periosteum extonde 

 between the bone and new horn — and in n 

 case did I find a well characterized deposi 

 of new bone. I am, therefore, left to cor 

 chide, that the use of the periosteum is mor 

 connected with the shell than the pith, an 



