662 
FIRING FOR SPAVIN. 
Mr. Thos. Turner — the present President of the Royal College 
of Veterinary Surgeons — “ for twenty years had been accustomed 
to have recourse to the heated iron in almost every case of lame- 
ness belonging to the leg ” — *“ He had performed (with it) hundreds 
of cures that could not have been accomplished by other means.” — 
“ For osseous tumours, for lesions of the thecae of the tendons, 
whether the perforatus or perforans ; for all injuries of the sus- 
pensory ligament, &c. is there — he spoke to practical men — any 
thing equal to the firing- iron ] The same with tumours on the 
outer and inner ancle. The same with spavins .” 
Mr. SlMONDS regarded the question as one of comparative value 
and usefulness. “ In the incipient stage of spavin, a seton might 
arrest the progress of the evil ; but when there had been bony 
deposit, and the action of the joint had been interfered with, 
nothing but the actual cautery could effect a cure.” 
Mr. BrABY was decidedly of opinion that, “ with regard to most 
of the lamenesses of the horse, setons were quite inefficient, and 
must give way to the scientific application of the cautery.” 
Mr. Hutchinson. — “ I have had horses under my care with 
spavin which I have fired in the usual way without any good 
effect. I then have had recourse to the seton, and they have be- 
come sound.” And this “ was bone spavin, and I fired deeply.” 
Mr. Spooner — Deputy Professor, Royal Veterinary College — 
admitted to the fullest extent the action of the cautery as “a 
counter-irritant,” and to a considerable extent its action as “ a local 
depletive ;” but repudiated the notion of its acting “ as a band- 
age.” — “ He was an advocate for firing in certain cases; and he 
undoubtedly agreed with Mr. Turner — when you fire, fire !” 
Mr. Turner (James) did not wish to decry the operation of 
setoning ; he knew the occasional good effects of setons, but he 
also knew the good effects, the incalculable benefits, arising from 
firing. — “ He could not refuse to divulge one startling fact arising 
from the firing operation. He called it ‘ startling,’ for the effect 
was magical. Whether he undertakes the cure of ringbone or 
spavin, or of osseous tumours generally, or of ligamentous swell- 
ings, the very moment that he penetrates the tumour to a cer- 
tain depth, the lameness vanishes, and the patient becomes in a 
manner a sound horse. This may be considered as a novelty in 
veterinary practice, but it is a true fact, not occurring in every 
case, yet not unfrequently seen.” This he accounted for by “ pe- 
netrating deeply the diseased part, and actually neurotomizing it.” — 
“ Much is accomplished by the penetration of the iron at the time ; 
and afterwards considerable sloughing ensues, and the parts be- 
come nearly or altogether insensible, and the horse can go and can 
work like a sound horse, and is capable of almost every thing h a 
