INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 615 
extended. Yet the careful practitioner may successfully 
employ either the one or the other. 
Boiling oil would appear to be a very old remedy, for 
Major Edwardes, in his c Year in the Punjab/ referring to the 
practice of the native doctors in India, says, that “ if a man’s 
arm were carried off at the elbow, he was made by his 
c medical adviser 5 to plunge the stump into a cauldron of hot 
oil, salt, and blue-stone, whereby the flesh shrivelled up like 
the end of a leg of mutton . 55 
For these affections you are aware that milder measures are 
now adopted, and such as are more in consonance with 
science, while they are found to be equally as effective; while for 
ordinary wounds the modern plan of treatment is extremely 
simple. Nature, indeed, is almost left to her own resources. 
A layer of collodion, either simple or medicated, is placed 
over the lesion, to shield it from the access of the external 
air ; and should it be found necessary, the surrounding parts 
are kept cold by means of cloths dipped in water. The 
healing process is soon established, the state of the system 
being always carefully attended to, for this is of great 
importance. Indeed, in some instances a little cotton-wool 
lightly laid on the wound suffices to bring about its cure. 
But is not the use of the first-named agent, collodion, 
another proof of the benefit medicine has derived from science? 
The chemist discovered that a most remarkable change was 
effected in ligneous matters by the action of nitric 
acid on them. Cotton-wool so treated formed a violently 
explosive compound, hence called gun-cotton ; and it was 
proposed to substitute this for gunpowder, but from the 
danger that has attended its trials, it is no longer advocated. 
If this substance be dissolved in ether, to which a little 
alcohol is added, it forms a viscid and adhesive compound, 
which, on being applied to a wound, leaves over it a delicate 
and tenacious covering, or film. For numerous cases, illus- 
trative of its beneficial influence, I must refer you to the 
pages of the unfortunately discontinued journal of this insti- 
tution, cc The Veterinary Record . 55 
It has been proposed to employ, instead of this, a solution 
of gutta pcrcha in chloroform, this being found more ad- 
hesive, and therefore thought preferable for veterinary 
purposes. At this institution, however, it has been ascer- 
tained that collodion possesses this desirable property in a 
sufficient degree, and indeed to be all that is necessary. 
Having thus referred to some of the strange and objection- 
able methods adopted for the removal of diseases, in the 
nobler animal, the horse, you may safely come to the con- 
