NEW MODE OF FIRING, 377 
case of this, and the only one that had occurred in his practice. 
M. Girard fils relates a similar case. 
We have frequently seen amaurosis the consequence of epilepsy 
in the dog, and it has then been uniformly incurable. 
It is a new subject, and we solicit the attention of our corre¬ 
spondents to it. 
A NEW MODE OF FIRING FOR SPLENTS AND 
OTHER EXOSTOSES. 
BLISTERS are often insufficient to remove bony enlargements, 
and, by destroying the hair, they sometimes produce a temporary 
or even permanent blemish. The traces left by the actual cau¬ 
tery are generally indelible. 
M. Dutiosne first proposed a method of cauterization more se¬ 
vere and effectual than the blister, and never blemishing; and it 
has very lately been warmly advocated by M. Gelle, assistant 
professor at the veterinary school at Alfort. It is contained in the 
Recueil de Med. Vet. for July, 1828. . 
. He shaves the hair closely round the splent or windgall, and 
daily well rubs in a little strong mercurial ointment. He then 
takes a piece of the skin of a pig, tolerably thick, and either in its 
fresh state or formed into bacon, a little larger than the tumour, 
and with a thin layer of fat attached to it. He places this over 
the tumour, with the fatty, side towards it, and then draws over it 
a firing iron, of a dull red heat, and presenting a flat surface of the 
size of an almond. The iron is lightly drawn over the hog’s skin^ 
in a waving circular manner; and when one iron is cooled, a few 
minutes are suffered to elapse before another is applied. The ope¬ 
ration is continued until the hog’s skin is shrivelled up, and nearly 
destroyed, care being taken that it is neither tom nor pierced by 
the iron; and this process will occupy more than half an hour. 
The pait beneath will now be exceedingly hot and tender, but not 
burned; a slight swelling will ensue, sometimes accompanied by 
serous exudation. In a few days the cuticle will peel off, and, ge¬ 
nerally, without any of the hair being removed; and not a trace 
of the operation will be left at the expiration of a few weeks. 
M. Gelle thinks that the hog’s fat penetrates through the inte¬ 
gument of the horse into the tumour, carrying with it the caloric 
which it has derived from the,heated iron; and therefore he re¬ 
commends veiy light applications of the cautery, and a short inter¬ 
val between each, that the grease may penetrate gently and insen- 
2 Y 
