158 BLISTERS. 



should not be entrusted to any rough, heavy-handed fellow, 

 otherwise a serious injury may be inflicted upon the patient. 

 It is an operation which requires either a nice feeling within 

 the hand of the operator, or the careful use of a thermometer. 

 The bowel will receive an injection at a temperature of 116° to 

 118° Fahrenheit, without fear of injury being inflicted; a 

 higher temperature than this would not be unattended with risk. 



Blisters. — Blisters are applications of a common character. 

 Many grooms talk largely about blistering, bleeding, and purg- 

 ing ; they speak, in fact, as though the indiscriminate practice 

 of the three constituted the whole art and science of veterinary 

 practice. 



Blistering horses, although common, is not so much in 

 vogue as it was some years ago. It is supposed by numbers 

 to possess virtues which it does not. One eflectual service a 

 blister performs, is that of placing the animal operated upon 

 completely out of use ; and by so doing, time and rest are 

 afibrded, and marvellous benefits frequently occur in conse- 

 quence, which are all attributed to the direct action of the 

 blister. 



Formerly it was the practice to fire and blister the limbs of 

 nearly ejery young horse in the kingdom. These operations 

 were deemed great strengtheners of the limbs ; happily for 

 humanity, however, these practices, unless resorted to in cases 

 cf disease, are now abandoned. 



Blisters are sometimes of great value if applied to the sides 

 of the chest in Pneumonia ; also to the part during the forma- 

 tion of Abscess within the sub-maxillary space ; also in Tracheitis 

 and in Bronchitis. 



Mustard is the best substance to apply to the sides of the 

 chest, to the course of the trachea, and to the neck, in bronchial, 



