80 
REVIEW. 
left open, and therefore acts as a conductor of cold to the 
skin ; for although after clipping it is usual to make use of 
the singeing apparatus, the flame does not come in contact 
with every particular hair, or even one in twenty; conse- 
quently, the inconvenience alluded to still exists to a very 
considerable extent. When singeing is nicely performed, 
the coat will retain its original colour and gloss, but that is 
not generally the case after clipping. 
“ Many persons entertain an idea that singeing is only 
practicable with horses whose coats have not become very long 
and thick, and therefore, to prevent that it must be com- 
menced very early — before they have grown. Although it 
is very desirable to do so, and, by repeating the operation 
every week or ten days, keep them short, it is not imperative. 
Very recently a horse came into my possession with a par- 
ticularly long and woolly coat, and the day after he arrived, 
a friend, who happened to call, a very good judge in such 
matters, observed it was a decided case for clipping. “No,” 
I replied, “he shall be singed.” My friend was of opinion 
it could not be done satisfactorily ; nevertheless, I was de- 
termined it should be tried. The process was conducted as 
follows: — The horse was singed as close as circumstances 
would permit, because, it must be observed, when the coat 
is in that state, after the singeing-lamp has been applied 
several times in succession to one part, a dampness arises 
from perspiration, occasioned by the warmth of the flame, in 
which state the operation cannot be continued. After singeing, 
the horse was sweated moderately, and, immediately on his 
return to the stable, w r ell washed with warm w ater and soft 
soap, thoroughly scraped and dressed. On the following 
day the operation was renewed in a similar manner, and 
repeated w ith intervals of a few days till the coat was reduced 
to the state I wished it to be.” 
For our own part, we imagine rather that the distinction 
between clipping and singeing, in regard to their effects^ 
to be, that singeing creates an excited action of the skin, 
( the dermis) which counteracts any ill consequences, such as 
“ catching cold,” the deprivation of the hair may have a 
tendency to ; and not as Cecil “ imagines,” that the sealing 
up of the hair, which he rightly describes to be “ a hollow 
tube,” has much to do with it : the root or hollow of the 
hair, after all, not being exposed. 
“ The only objection that can be raised against clipping or 
