HORSE MANAGEMENT, ETC. 393 
» ® [t is well-known that lock-jaw more frequently ensues 
from a punctured wound than a clean cut or incision; yet when 
nicking or pricking, after the American fashion, (if care be taken 
to make the orifice through the skin sufficiently large, so that pus, 
afterward secreted, may escape,) I think there is no danger. The 
danger arises from the imprisonment of pus by closure of the 
orifice in the skin. In healthy subjects the orifice made through 
the skin will often unite in the course of a few hours ; then, should 
morbid matter accumulate within the substance of the tail, it bur- 
rows, forms an abscess, or eise becomes absorbed, producing lock- 
jaw. Therefore, I would advise persons having prickeu or nicked 
horses under their care, to pay strict attention to such, and see 
that the orifices are kept open, which may easily be done by oc- 
casionally inserting the point of a penknife. The skin should be 
the last to heal. The healing process must be perfected in the 
interior first, and, lastly, the skin. Should fungus or “ proud 
flesh” appear, apply powdered bloodroot, burnt alum, or red pre- 
cipitate. When an abscess forms at the base of the tail after 
pricking, apply a poultice of flaxseed; and when the tail is much 
inflamed and swollen, it should be bathed frequently with the 
following: 
No. 62. Acetic acid.....ccsescneececsvoes 1 part. 
Water..cceeeees Fe erle'e d's Weiss ge oases 7 parts 
tix 
When horses are nicked in warm weather, the tail should be 
moistened with tincture of aloes; this will keep the flies off. 
Persons who are not experts in the art of pricking are apt te 
wound, and sometimes completely sever the coccygeal arteries, 
thereby causing an unnecessary and dangerous hemorrhage. In 
such cases, I should advise the operator to crowd into the orifice 
a small piece of dry sponge. This will arrest the hemorrhage, 
and, at the same time, keep the divided ends of the muscles apart, 
so that they can not reunite; hence it is not necessary to put the 
tail into pulleys for some hours, or until bleeding has ceased. 
When this is the case, the sponge may be removed by means of 
a smal] pair of forceps. 
The success in securing what is denominated a fashionable tai} 
depends altogether on the skill of the operator, who must make 
a complete division of the riuscles beneath the tail only, as their 
action is to compress an’ depress that useful appendage; for 
