LAMENESS IN HORSES. 363 
the shoulder, has been known to do good. The one we use is the 
following : — 
R. Liquor, ammonise 
01. olivse 
01. terebinthinae aa . . . §ij 
Saponis mollis ..... §j — M. S. A. 
This liniment takes immediate effect, and sometimes for a short 
time annoys the animal so much that he requires to be held in hand 
for a few minutes, or to be fastened up short with the rack-chain. 
The first perfrication will not move the hair; the second, however, 
will be apt to do this; the third almost certain to do so : knowing 
which, it will be to act accordingly. 
A Blister entirely over the point of the shoulder is, however, 
the remedy most likely to prove efficacious in a case wherein mild 
means have conferred little or no benefit; the objection to such a 
remedy being the certain removal of the hair, and the consequent 
laying-up of the horse for a much longer time than consent in this 
stage of the lameness can always be obtained for; though, in the 
end, it may prove — as it often does — really a saving of time. Three 
or four weeks is the shortest period you can reckon for a blister to 
work itself out, even if it be sponged off with hot water as soon as 
it has taken effect — which in this case ought to be done : and then, 
even though the horse may prove sound, the shoulder will proba- 
bly be left bare ; though that, of course, will depend on the strength 
and composition of the blister used. What will frequently amount 
to a blister, and at the same time will leave the hair unloosened, is 
the application of the acetum cantharidis . A painter’s brush 
answers best to apply it with , the hair being simply wetted with 
the essence by stroking it with the brush in the direction in which 
it grows. This, we repeat, will frequently be found to sweat the 
skin without stirring the hair ; and as such is, as a vesicatory, ex- 
tremely valuable to us, and in particular in private practice. 
No trial of the horse, not even a run-out, can be permitted for 
at least a fortnight after the application of the acetum ; and then, 
should amendment be still imperceptible or insufficiently apparent 
to satisfy for what has been done, providing we see no reason to 
alter our opinion in regard to the seat of lameness, a severe and 
extensive blister had better be at once applied over the point of 
the shoulder, and the animal kept tied up in the stall until such 
time as it has worked off, or until the swelling in the limb be 
such as to call for his removal into a loose box, where he must 
remain for some weeks: time now being absolutely necessary for 
the working-off* of the blister, and the carrying into effect those 
changes which, in consequence of its application, we have reason 
