EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 411 
of opium, which was followed by several hours of refreshing 
sleep. 
“ In a week after the operation his appearance was mar- 
vellously improved, diarrhoea ceased, perspiration less copious, 
pain comparatively trifling, appetite returning ; the spreading 
of the ulceration arrested, discharge more healthy, surface of 
the wound granulating, and cicatrization in some parts 
commencing. 
“ In a few days subsequent to the above report, there were 
appearances evinced at two or three points, at the edges of 
the wound, of the phagedaenic ulceration re-commencing, 
which were, however, speedily changed on the second appli- 
cation of the cautery. 
“ It was astonishing to observe the rapid reparation of so 
great an extent of mischief. Granulation and cicatrization 
went on so quickly, that in the course of a few weeks the 
wound was reduced to little more than the size of a crown- 
piece, when the healing process became suddenly arrested; 
the ulcer now became of an indolent character, w T ith thick- 
ened edges, its surface shining, and of a pale colour, and it 
was not before the lapse of several months that it became 
entirely healed. 
“The last time I saw the patient ’was in about two years 
after his recovery ; he was then in excellent health, but the 
appearance of the groin w T as somewhat forbidding, from the 
extent of cicatrix, puckering of the integument, and two or 
three extensive bands, that had the effect of drawing the 
thigh on the body, which were liable to crack and ulcerate 
from very trifling causes, 35 — Lancet , January 7, 1854. 
THE VETERINARIAN, JULY 1, 1854. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat. — Cicero. 
Boast of our improvements in medicine as we may, we in 
some of them seem to be going on from year to year swim- 
mingly, and to be advancing nearer and nearer to perfection, 
when, all of a sudden, we meet with some rebuff in our step 
onward, and feel dismayed at being told by farther experience 
that to make any more improvement we must actually retro- 
grade — step backward: in plain language, move back into 
that road we have so long relinquished, viz. the road Nature 
herself first pointed out to us. We have lately had, both in 
