308 COMPENDIUM OF THE VETERINARY ART. 



be carefully brought together and secured 

 as we have directed above*. 



* The common practice of farriers in these cases is, to app^y 

 freely some stimulating spirituous preparation, such as .s[)irit of 

 wine and camphor, friar's balsam (which is a solution of certain 

 resin* and balsams in spirit of wine), brandy, and many other 

 things equally injurious : some of them use even a mixture of oil 

 of turpentine and acid of vitriol ; and then, as if they wore deter- 

 mined to do all the injury in thei: power, the wound is plugged 

 up with a quantity of tow, moistened with tlie 5ame stimuluring 

 preparation with which the wound was washed or syringed. A 

 few days ago, I was desired to attend a horse that had met with 

 a deep and extensive wound by entangling, it was supposed, his 

 lore-leg in a gate while at grasb : the farrier had been there before 

 me; and obsemng a syringe in his hand, I inquired what lifjuid 

 he had employed, and was toid " Branuj." Upon expressing 

 my fear that so stimulating an application would do mischief, the 

 farrier immediately replied, "There is no danger ol that, for I 

 pul a little oil with it ; and yoa know the one is hot, and the 

 other cold." I could not but smile at the jngenui«-y of the expla- 

 nation, but requested that nothing of the sort might be again 

 employed. 



The popular prejudice in favour of those spirituous or balsamic 

 preparations, as they are termed, in all kinds of wounds, has 

 been the cau?e of nuich mischief in veterinary, perhaps not much 

 less in human, sur;jery. The credit they have acquired is owing 

 to the wonricrfal property, with wl)ich the animal body is en- 

 dued, of nnitin;' parts that have been divided, merely by keeping 

 Ihem in contact with each other. Many astonishing insiances of 

 this have been related by writers on surgery' ; and it has been 

 proved, that if even a tooth recently drawn be replaced in it's 

 »ocket, it will soon become as firm as the rest. The spur of a 



