avery's own farrier. 153 



it may be washed with camphoretted spirits, or any of 

 the stimulating liniments; or it can be scattered by using 

 the yolks of hen's eggs and sugar, as given in recipes; 

 and sometimes it is only necessary to shower the parts a 

 few times with cold water, and then apply the liniment 

 to effect a cure. But if allowed to run on until it breaks 

 and forms into pipes, and discharges from thence, then a 

 different mode of treatment will be required. Now, here 

 comes another long kept secret, and a great mystery to 

 some, which may be the means of doing some good in 

 the world if made public. The poll evil, after arriving 

 at this stage of the disease, requires precisely the same 

 treatment to effect a cure, that the cancer does in the 

 human species. The following remedies have saved 

 thousands from a premature grave: 



Cure. — Instead of using the knife or hot iron (as in 

 olden times), by which many a valuable horse has been 

 lost, apply the followiing remedies, which are three in 

 number; the first is the mildest and sufficient to cure 

 in the first stages of this disease. It is what the Indians 

 use to cure all red spots on the face, or other parts, 

 which, if let alone, often terminate in cancer. The first 

 is simply to take pure tobacco (a good Spanish cigar 

 for instance) and reduce it to ashes, then wet it up in 

 the form of a poultice with spittle from the mouth and 

 apply it to the sore. The second is red oak bark, re- 

 duced to ashes, then leached, and the lye boiled down to 

 a kind of salve, and applied as above. Or it may be 

 obtained by boiling a quantity of the bark sufficient to 

 get the strength, and then strain and boil down. The 

 third remedy is the most sure, as it is the most powerful; 



