532 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



suppose ! These fellows vaunt themselves much upon their skill 

 m the treatment of these deformities, and even produce certificates 

 from respectable sources in commendation of their great success, 

 which certificates are oftentimes obtained from the various parties 

 without proper consideration or the lapse of sufficient time after 

 the operation to judge of its real efficacy. The public, however, 

 is perhaps better able to judge of the merits of these scientific 

 operations than we are ; nevertheless, as far as our experience 

 teaches us, these ignoramuses, with their high-toned titles and 

 great pretensions, are a set of bunglers, and the most of them 

 entirely unworthy of confidence. Some of them even go so far 

 in their charlatanism as to succeed in gulling their victims into the 

 belief that there is some great secret attached to the operation of 

 extracting a corn, as they term it, and make a great ado in the 

 matter, as it were to confuse the looker-on and involve their clumsy 

 operation in a certain degree of mystery. All we have to say of 

 these impudent humbugs is, that " the less our readers have to do 

 with them the better." 



If, reader, you have been foolish enough, or rather vain enough, 

 to wear a tight boot in order to exhibit the beautiful proportions 

 of your foot, and consequently have thus produced corns and 

 brought upon yourself a good deal of suffering, the first thing to 

 be done towards relieving yourself of these little tormentors is to 

 call on an expert disciple of Saint Crispin and order forthwith a 

 pair of easy, non-pinching boots. 



This being done, procure some soft chamois-leather, and cut 

 with your wadding-punch several pieces of it ; through the centre 

 of these pieces punch again another hole still smaller with a large- 

 sized shoemaker's punch : this hole should be about the size of the 

 corn we propose to operate on. 



These pieces of chamois may now be stuck together with a little 

 thin glue or any other kind of strong paste, and as many thick- 

 nesses used as will be necessary to protect the corn from the 

 pressure of the boot when it is laid over it. The under surface, 

 or that part of the chamois-pad to be applied around the corns, 



