CAUTERY AND SETON. 677 
producing any eyesore, which in general detracts greatly from 
the value when the owner wishes to dispose of them. 
I have found setons of great utility in thorough-pins and wind- 
galls, and prefer them to the actual cautery. In chronic inflamma- 
tion of the larynx, they are of much service ; and I have seen their 
application supersede repeated blistering. In inflammation of the 
eye they are often had recourse to, and they prove very efficacious 
in inflammation of the throat in dogs, and in foot lameness. 
In cases of quittor there is no kind of treatment so successful 
as that of the seton, which, in my opinion, is far superior to the 
removal of the lateral cartilage by the sage-leaf knife, sloughing the 
sinus with corrosive sublimate, or laying open the fistula by cutting 
the coronary ligament and cartilage, or cramming the sore with 
sulphate of zinc and tow. In quittor, I explore the extent and exact 
route of the sinus with the probe, after which I can calculate with 
the eye where to cause the seton-needle to make its exit, and at 
that particular part I remove the wall or crust, until such time as 
I arrive at the sensitive laminae. I then introduce the seton- 
needle at the coronet, and with two thrusts pass it through below 
the coronary ligament and lateral cartilage, and bring it out 
about the middle of the wall. In such a case I charge my needle 
with four plies of the common tape, so that as the fistulous 
discharge ceases, and the cavity heals up, I withdraw one por- 
tion after the other, until they are all extracted. I find that after 
the foot has been poulticed for eight or ten days, and the 
seton shifted, the sore very readily heals with a weak solution of 
zinc. 
By treating quittor in this manner, the disease is soon conquer- 
ed, and there is no permanent blemish, as generally results from the 
old method, such as false quarter, or a malformation of foot. 
Neither the bed of the secreting vessels, nor the vessels themselves, 
are injured ; the cartilage is left in a sound and healthy state, and 
the crust of the foot regulated in its growth and formation the 
same as ever. I recollect only one case in which I did not suc- 
ceed with the seton. This was a bay cart-horse, belonging to 
Mr. Stevenson, farmer, which had been lame for three months. 
About three weeks after he was sent home, after the seton had 
been tried, the owner called on me, and said that there was still 
a sore, and that it was running a little. I ordered the horse into 
town, probed the foot carefully, and ascertained the existence of 
caries. He was thrown, and after making a circular incision 
with the scalpel, and dissecting away some diseased portions of 
the fistula, I introduced the forceps, and extracted a piece of 
carious bone, which was the colour of, and as light as, a cinder. 
It had no connexion with the cartilage, as it came from the head 
vol. x. 4 s 
