MR. HILL S REPLY TO MR. WILSON. 
915 
to my letter on “Actual Cautery,” need an answer, as they 
do not in any way, that I can see, tend to disprove my state- 
ments or substantiate his own. 
First, with regard to what appears to be the chief point 
in the discussion, or, at all events, the point upon which Mr. 
Wilson chiefly argues, viz., firing for lampas. 
Is there any absolute necessity, I ask, to treat this irritated 
condition of the gums, consequent upon teething, with a red- 
hot iron (be it flat or curved) ? 
Again, I will put it to the profession at large, which is the 
more humane, to treat the case in the simple way I before 
described, viz., the lance and soft food (which, I affirm, to be 
all that is necessary), or for the sake of gratifying the whim 
of some would-be knowing individual (for I can scarcely con- 
ceive that common sense would ever dictate to us to inflict 
such excruciating and unnecessary treatment for so trifling an 
affection), to burn down to a level with the teeth, as Mr. 
Wilson says, this inflammatory condition of the gum. 
But Mr. Wilson states that it cannot be cruel if it alleviates 
pain. Well, I cannot reconcile this with my ideas of cruelty, 
for I contend that when we can alleviate pain by a simple 
and almost painless operation, then it is nothing more or less 
than an act of cruelty, if to satisfy our own or other people’s 
fancy, we perform an unnecessary and painfnl one. 
But what are Mr. Wilson’s reasons for using the iron in 
these cases ? One is that he never gets a return of the 
lampas, which he states he does after lancing. True. Could 
he expect it after destroying to such an extent the structure 
of the parts ? And even supposing the swelling to return 
after the lance, which I grant it sometimes will, a repetition 
of the treatment which I advocate will again disperse it. Aye, 
and I would repeat the treatment twenty times if necessary, 
rather than disgrace my profession, as I believe I should he 
doing in applying the hot iron as a cure for lampas. 
Again, I certainly cannot conceive that after the applica- 
tion of actual cautery to the mouth the animal will resume 
his feeding much sooner than if the lance had been used, 
which is another of Mr. Wilson’s reasons for using it. 
Further, with regard to our clients not believing in the use 
of the lance, though I have been asked repeatedly to burn the 
lampas out, yet when I have pointed out to them the useless- 
ness of the operation, and the unnecessary torture the animal 
is put to, they have, without a single exception, taken a 
common sense view of the case, and allowed me to adopt the 
treatment I have previously mentioned. 
Lastly, the case which Mr. Wilson alludes to of the palatine 
