FIRING FOR SPAVIN. 
3 
nerated after having once been destroyed. As baldness or “ ble- 
mish/’ therefore, according to the old mode of treating, or rather 
of non-treating, fired limbs proved frequent and extensive, it be- 
came an object of great importance to institute some plan of 
treatment which should save the skin and hair bulbs, at the same 
time that it afforded some relief to the animal, who, by being neg- 
lected, was really suffering more pain in his fired parts than for 
humanity’s sake, after having undergone what he had in the 
operation, he ought to have been allowed to do. To this point, 
some years ago, my cousin, Mr. Charles Percivall, called my atten- 
tion ; and it struck me at the time to be one of such consequence 
that I begged of him to put his thoughts on the subject upon 
paper. This he did, and sent the same, in the year 1842, to The 
Veterinarian*. And so much did they please me on perusal 
at the time, and such benefit have I derived from the application 
of them in my practice since, that I feel I shall not be doing jus- 
tice to this part of my subject if T do not make some extracts from 
them in this place. 
“ In the early part of my professional life, being in a sporting 
country, I was frequently called upon to perform this operation ; 
and, in accordance with the general custom, I paid very little at- 
tention to my patient subsequently, and often had great cause to 
be dissatisfied with the appearance of the animal afterwards, not- 
withstanding I had taken the greatest pains in the operation. 
It was not until I had experienced much annoyance from the 
blemished and unsightly condition of the legs that I began to 
think seriously on the subject, and to see the necessity of paying 
more attention subsequent to the operation than I had hitherto 
been in the habit of doing. The loss of hair, and consequent 
blemish and disfigurement, which I had frequently met with in 
fired and blistered horses, I for some time attributed to the pre- 
sence of some corrosive ingredient in the blister, knowing it to be 
a common practice with many persons to blister very soon after 
the operation, and, with some, even at the time of operating : 
however, experience soon convinced me that I was not altogether 
right in my conjecture, finding that the same thing took place 
from firing without any subsequent blistering, and even from using 
a blister which I knew to be properly prepared. This I found 
to proceed from the discharge issuing from the cauterized or 
blistered surface becoming dry and hard, adhering so firmly to 
the hair that the confined matter or pus underneath produced, in 
many instances, deep ulceration, frightful sores, and consequent 
destruction of the roots of the hair ; circumstances which induced 
* Vol. xv, p. 20 — 21. 
