364 FIRING. 



The inhuman practice of blistering all round at the same time, 

 and perhaps high on the legs, cannot be too strongly reprobated. 

 Many a valuable horse has been lost through the excessive gen- 

 eral irritation which this has produced, or its violent effect on the 

 urinary organs ; and that has been particularly the case, vs^hen 

 corrosive sublimate has entered into the composition of the blister. 



If strangury should appear, the horse should be plentifully 

 supplied vi^ith linseed tea, which is thus best prepared — a gallon 

 of boiling water is thrown on half a pound of linseed ; the infu- 

 sion suffered to stand untU nearly cold, and the clean mucilaginous 

 fluid then poured off. Three-quarters of a pound of Epsom salts 

 should also be given, dissolved in a quart of water, and, after that, 

 a baU every six hours, containing opium and camphor, with lin- 

 seed meal and treacle. 



Half a pound or a pound of good mustard powder, made into 

 a paste with boUing water, and applied hot, will often produce as 

 good a blister as cantharides. It is a preferable one, when, as in 

 inflammation of the kidneys, the effect of cantharides on the uri- 

 nary organs is feared. Hartshorn is not so effectual. Tincture 

 of croton makes an active liquid blister, and so do some of the 

 preparations of iodine.* 



FIRING. 



Whatever seeming cruelty may attend this operation, it is in 

 many cases indispensable. The principle on which we have re- 

 course to it is similar to that which justifies the use of a blister — 

 by producing superficial inflammation we may be enabled to get 

 rid of a deeper-seated one, or we may excite the absorbents to 



* Note by Mr. Spooner. — There has been a vast deal of puffing and hum- 

 bug mixed up with the subject of blistering : — ointmeuta and liniments have 

 been sold under various captivating titles, and professing to be so amiable 

 in their effects, as to require no tying up of the horse's head when the ani- 

 mal is submitted to the operation. Now, it should be borne in mind, that 

 the effect of a blister being to stimulate yiolently the sensitive cutis and 

 cause it to throw up the scarf skin in the form of bladders, this cannot be 

 accomplished without pain and irritation. Of com-se, if from the weakness 

 of the application a lesser effect is produced, the irritation is so much the 

 Uess. Cantharides is the base of nearly all blislers, and its action is pretty 

 aaucli the same, whether applied in the usual blistering ointment or in some 

 anguent of peculiar and astonishing efficacy, distinguished alike for the most 

 opposite vu-tties,— combining the strength of the lion with the mildness of 

 !he dove. It is a fact that nine horses out of ten will not attempt to blem- 

 ish themselves ; and it is the knowledge of this fact that induces the puffers 

 uf these blisters to state that the animal does not require his head to be tied 

 up. The careful veterinary surgeon will, however, use proper precautions 

 in all cases, though only one in ten may actually require it. The writer has 

 Known ahorse tear up the stunes under his feet fiomthe irritation produced 

 by James's blister 



