SKIN AFFECTION IN A COW. 
97 
almost hopeless effects which may be brought about by a deter¬ 
mined perseverance; and to me it has afforded a precedent from 
which I hope to profit on many a future occasion. Now, it may 
be a question, whether the same result would have been pro¬ 
duced had the treatment been pursued no further than the 
mere firing, and its usual consequent blister. For my own part, 
I am inclined to think it would have failed ; and I attribute the 
cure more to the long continued irritation than to any specific 
effects of the actual cautery. Every pupil at the Veterinary 
College must remember it having been impressed upon his mind, 
that firing and blistering in cases like the foregoing are always 
worse than useless ; that they are nothing more or less than tor¬ 
tures, without the possibility of eventual good. Now, with facts 
like this, and a hundred others staring us in the face, such a doc¬ 
trine cannot be tolerated. Nevertheless, no one can deny that 
coming, as it does, from high authority, it produces an impres¬ 
sion on the mind of the student (especially if he has not had the 
advantage of seeing previous practice), which will tell most 
wofully against him when he enters upon country practice, and 
utters such nonsense before a sportsman who has witnessed the 
good effects of these measures over and over again. As a friend, 
and as a man most sensitive to ridicule cast upon my profession, 
I would advise the veterinary pupil not to give way to mere theo¬ 
ries, or the ipse dixit of any man, but to observe for himself, and 
to note facts; and then if he finds that the actual cautery and can- 
tharides are really injurious, let him discard them; but if, on 
the other hand, he sees that benefit is derived from their use which 
cannot be obtained by other means, let him not be deterred from 
having recourse to them merely because Mr. Sewell has sent 
forth his fiat against them. 
Southampton, Dec. 23 , 1833 . 
A VERY SINGULAR AFFECTION OF THE SKIN IN 
A COW. 
By Mr. W. Starks, Westsideivood, Lanarkshire . 
I have sent you a small portion of skin, or rather cuticle and 
hair, which came off from one of my cows last year, in the month of 
July. Her disease I conceived to be catarrhal fever, brought on 
by b eing over-heated. She was mostly of a white colour, with 
some black spots. The whole of the skin of the uppermost part 
of the body, from the mouth to the tail and half way down the 
ribs, came off, except where there w T as a spot of black, which 
always remained quite soft and healthy. The symptoms which 
