Poll-evil ; its Treatment. 239 



mode adopted. The cord of the seton should be 



dressed every morning with 



Carbolized oil or corrosive sublimate . . half a clraclini 

 Spirit of wine two ounces. 



But in most cases carbolized oil is best. Setons 

 are largely employed in the management of 

 domesticated animals in disease and even in 

 health. They consist of pieces of tape or cord, 

 which are carried for some distance under the 

 skin and allowed to remain in a considerable time 

 to keep the passage open for the draining away 

 of some morbid product, or to establish some 

 curative or prophylactic process by the local irri- 

 tation which they produce. The word seton is 

 no doubt obtained from the Latin seta^ coarse 

 hair or bristles, which were the original agents 

 for this purpose ; at the present time the material 

 in common use is coarse tape varying according 

 to the requirements of the case or the whim of 

 the operator. It is introduced by means of an 

 instrument called the seton needle, and is formed 

 of a flat piece of steel varying from four to eight 

 inches in length. The one end has a square 

 aperture or eye, while the other end is flattened 

 out at the edges which join each other at an 

 acute angle. The point is often made sharp to 

 allow of its being pushed through the skin; 

 sometimes, however, it is left blunt, and it is 

 then passed through the skin by an opening made 

 with a lancet. They are often used with a handle, 

 into which they are screwed, and in this way 

 their course is more certainly directed. In intro- 

 ducing a seton the skin is first punctured trans- 

 versely with a lancetj and the seton needle is 



