88 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
cover the parts with a blister, is a process very advantageous when 
one desires to avoid disfigurement. 
To U. Leblanc is due the introduction, into our surgery, of 
cauterization in deep fine points, which he made known in 1836. The 
characteristic of this method is the piercing of the skin through to 
the subcutaneous connective tissue. The points are applied in the 
same way, but somewhat closer than in superficial firing. The 
instrument. is slightly pressed upon, so that with one or two strokes 
the skin is perforated. 
The advantages of this mode of cauterization are facility and 
rapidity of execution, and more intense and deeper action. Leblanc 
used to run through ‘the skin with two, three or four strokes of the 
instrument, and complete the operation with a blistering application. 
During summer, we apply the instrument only twice. When the 
cautery is applied three or four times, especially during the hot 
months of the year, itis prudent not to use the blistering process, 
until a few days after—if the firing is not sufficiently strong. 
For along time, the absolute respect, in veterinary surgery, for — 
_ synovial membrane, was dogmatic. It was known that happy 
results had been obtained by Basch, Boettger, Fischer, Robertson, 
and Bruche, with fine punctures of synovial sacs with the red iron or 
with the bistoury; these practitioners were not imitated, their 
advice remained a dead letter: so many unsuccessful attempts were 
known, though they had not been published. 
In 1847, Rey had already observed the harmlessness of the intro- 
duction of fine incandescent needles into the synovial membrane. 
Twenty years later, Bianchi made known his experiments of the 
Treatment of Synovial Dropsies with Heated Needles. The new method, 
studied and discussed by Abadie, Bouley, Foucher, Peuch, and 
Lenck, aroused much opposition at first. It has, however, resisted 
all attacks ; and the number of its advocates is daily increasing. 
When well performed, it is harmless, even for articular synovial 
membranes ; and for intensity of action, and therapeutic value, it 
surpasses all others. It is indispensable to use very fine points, the 
diameter of which does not exceed one millimeter and a half. In 
preference to the ordinary elongated cauteries, needles of uniform 
diameter should be used; such as that of the Bourguet cautery, or 
the platinum point of the.Zoocautery. 
The dots are arranged in a quincunx, one centimeter apart. The 
technic is somewhat important; the heated needle is implanted 
in the tissues to the desired depth and immediately taken out. When 
it is over the course of blood vessels and nerves, it should not go 
deeper than the subcutaneous connective tissue. There is no harm 
in inserting the instrument several times in the same dot, when one 
thd 
