22 ON FIRING AND THE SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT. 
me to adopt a different mode of procedure, in order to prevent a 
recurrence of the evil, and relieve myself from the too frequent 
annoyance I had experienced on this head. 
My mode of treatment, although simple, will be found to be 
very efficacious in preventing the disfigurement above alluded to. 
At the expiration of a week from the time of operating (or sooner 
if the legs have ceased to discharge, and are becoming dry and 
hard), I make my patient stand in a tub of warm water, or foment 
the legs for an hour and a half, or two hours, every day; carefully 
removing from time to time the sloughs and scurf, or discharge, 
and applying a little common oil or lard, which it is of conse- 
quence to do before the surface get quite dry, in older to keep the 
parts soft and pliable, as well as to facilitate the removal of the 
sloughs and scabs, or inspissated discharge. In the course of a 
week, under this treatment, the sloughs wull separate. 
In the event of any superabundant granulations, 1 have recourse 
to the sulphate of zinc, or sulphate of copper, in solution, & c. 
When perfectly healed and free from scurf, I prefer a loose 
box to the grass field for a fortnight or three weeks, making use 
of wet bandages, physic, &c., occasionally leading my patient 
out to stretch his legs, as circumstances may dictate. 
The system of turning out in a week or ten days after firing 
or blistering — the practice of the old school — is, in my opinion, 
decidedly objectionable. A loose box, together with the treat- 
ment beforementioned, until the inflammation attendant upon 
the operation has subsided, is to be preferred ; for, should the 
animal be placed in a situation which affords him an opportunity 
of taking violent exercise while the legs are in an inflamed state, 
or before they have recovered their wonted tone and strength, 
he is likely to suffer from, instead of being benefitted by, the 
operation. I have seen many horses that had been blistered and 
turned out during the summer months taken up w 7 ith their legs 
thicker than before turning out, which I could attribute to nothing 
but their having been driven about by their companions, tor- 
mented by the flies, and made to exert themselves when the 
ground was hard, and at a time when the legs were not in a fit 
state to bear such exertion. 
