FISTULA IN ONE OF THE PITS ABOVE THE EYE. 73 
it a new direction. I passed the elastic sound into the pit above 
the eye, and, pressing lightly with my right hand, while I held my 
left under the angle of the lower jaw, I began to feel the end of 
the sound at the superior part of the channel. I then determined 
to pass my probe in this direction ; but as I had not the instru- 
ments necessary for the operation, I postponed it until the follow- 
ing day. 
The morrow having arrived, I took a long seton needle, but not 
so large as the sound of which I have spoken. I covered the 
cutting edge of the needle with several layers of wax, until I had 
made it for the time a simple sound, that would not cut for itself 
any false route. The horse being ready, I sounded him again, in 
order to be assured of the direction which I ought to take ; and as 
soon as I had withdrawn the sound, I passed the needle in pre- 
cisely the same course. When I began to feel it in the channel 
between the jaws, I pressed it with some force, and it penetrated 
through the skin, leaving the wax in the wound. I prolonged the 
opening longitudinally, and fixed anew my seton in this artificial 
fistula, having first dressed it with weak spirit, and afterwards 
with digestive ointment. The animal lost some blood in the ope- 
ration, but he did not suffer much during it, nor was he seriously 
inconvenienced afterwards. 
I thought that the seton passing this way would not be torn by 
the teeth ; but I was deceived. It suffered the same fate as that 
which terminated in the mouth. 
I then took an annealed metallic wire ; I surrounded it with 
tow, and passed it through the same fistulous opening. In this 
way my object was at length accomplished, and the fistulous canal 
was closed. I every day threw detersive injections into the 
wound, and replaced fresh tow around the wire. The horse now 
began to eat without difficulty, and acquired condition. 
The bad smell which was exhaled from this ulcer made me 
think that there was caries of the sphenoid bone. I cauterized it, 
and, in order to reach the bone without injuring the surrounding 
parts, I passed my cautery, at a white heat, through a metallic 
tube. By these means the fistula became considerably enlarged, 
and the lotions and injections were more easily applied. 
About a year after this metallic wire had been adopted, I 
chanced to see the animal again. When it drank, a portion of the 
water escaped through the fistulous opening : a portion of the food 
likewise followed the same route, and frequently obstructed the 
passage. Then, when no water could ascend or pus descend, the 
horse lost his spirits, and would not eat ; but when a sound was 
passed, and water, with a small portion of spirit added to it, was 
injected, the animal’s spirits and appetite immediately returned. 
VOL. XII. K 
