378 
ON BACK -RAKING. 
my hand, the head on the left lateral side, and the tail on the right 
side. 
In regard to back-raking, it is alleged that serious injury may 
be inflicted on the rectum. Mr. Simonds has some strong remarks 
in your number for August last, on the fatal effect of this operation, 
as performed by an ignorant person, in a case which he describes; 
and an objector might avail himself of such a statement to set it 
aside altogether. But we are all agreed, I presume, that the proper 
and legitimate use of a means, and not its abuse, must be our 
guide. I may add, while on this subject, that a wound in the 
rectum is not necessarily fatal. I have not found it so. In proof 
of which I may instance the following cases, for the correctness of 
which I can vouch. 
The first was in a horse, belonging to J. Tucker, Esq., of 
Northcolts, near Hatherleigh, Devon The handle of a stable-fork 
penetrated through the under part of the abdomen, passed through 
the rectum, and projected through the anus. All the means used 
in this case were setons, fomentations, and simple dressings, by 
which he recovered. 
The second case was related to me by Captain Woollcombe, of 
the Royal Artillery, who saw the shaft of an artillety waggon run 
through a horse in the same manner, and which horse recovered. 
The third case was that of a very valuable hunter, hy Camerton, 
the property of John Moth Woollcombe, Esq., of Ashbury, Devon. 
I had just dismounted from him, and given him to a man to hold. 
The horse got away, and crossed the country, over some very high 
gates, one of which was a yard-gate of seven or eight bars, and a 
little beyond it was a cart, with the shafts resting on a stool. He 
rushed between them, and the off shaft ran through him, taking 
the same direction as I have described in the foregoing cases. 
More than half of the shaft penetrated, and came out by the side 
of the tail ; and both the hooks attached to the staple of the shaft 
came through. Before I reached the place he had been backed 
out of the shaft, when one of the hooks came in contact with the 
large nerve of the thigh, and tore it asunder. Had I been present 
at the time, I should have sawn off the shaft, and, in all proba- 
bility, saved the horse. I put him in a frame, bled him freely, 
and passed a seton through the wound. He was doing well for 
several days, when locked-jaw came on, and I destroyed him. 
This occurred twenty years ago; but I have since cured three 
cases out of four of locked-jaw arising from wounds. One of 
them was a horse belonging to John Tupper, Esq., of this island. 
In this case a stake passed through and divided the abdominal 
muscles, proceeded through the muscles of the thigh, and was 
arrested in its further progress by the bone. The horse did well 
