904 
ON THE USE OF THE ACTUAL CAUTERY. 
following another abscess formed, which I laid open very freely, 
and dressed as before ; with a little subsequent attention it 
healed up in the early part of May. On the 31st of August it 
was again necessary to open another abscess near the seat of 
the former one ; by November this also had completely healed, 
and all remained well until the following 16th of July, when 
another large abscess formed, which I laid well open, by which 
I was enabled to see that the ligamentum nuchse was exten- 
sively diseased. I now advised the owner to have the horse 
destroyed, but it was not done before August 22nd. For the 
last month the poor animal could not support its head with- 
out resting it on the manger ; he was fed on green food, or 
would not have lived so long. 
On examining the neck after death, I found a small portion 
of the ligamentum nuchse attached to the occiptal bone, and 
some more on the spinous processes of the dorsal bones. 
Between those parts there was not a vestige of the ligament 
to be seen, and the muscles were so atrophied that but little 
of the fibrous structure remained. 
ON THE USE OF THE ACTUAL CAUTERY. 
By the Same. 
In reference to the controversy in the Veterinarian between 
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Hill respecting the imaginary disease 
lampas, I can only say that I have for some years past told 
my employers and their servants that any person who either 
burnt or lanced a horse’s gums because they happened to be 
below the level of the teeth, ought to have their own gums 
served in the same manner. It is quite time that men of 
science should discountenance such relics of a gone by age. 
The practice of firing horses has gone much out of use, and 
I think justly so. There are, no doubt, cases in which it 
acts beneficially, as during the formation of bony deposits, 
or disease between the cuneiform bones of the hock, by 
decreasing the original pain, and by increasing the process of 
absorption of the articular cartilage, and by producing an 
increased cell growth in the part, and thus hastening the 
development and formation of new bone. For unless all the 
cartilage is absorbed, and the bony union (anchylosis) com- 
pleted, there will be a greater liability to a recurrence of 
lameness. The process in general is a very slow one. If the 
