566 
ON FIRING. 
must be obvious that we diminish, instead of increase, the suffer¬ 
ings of our patient by the perfect , rather than the partial lesion 
of such organization. Much more might be urged; but as space 
does not permit, it must suffice to state a well-known fact, that 
Mr. Thomas Turner, of Croydon, and myself, perform this for¬ 
midable operation with our patients standing on their legs in 
the proportion of about nine cases out of ten,—I mean without 
casting the horse. 
In the next place, Mr. Fenwick calls upon me, and I confess with 
good reason, to state in what period my patients recover: to 
which I answer, I require them to remain at my own stables for 
about a fortnight from the day they are operated on; they are 
then fit to be turned to grass, straw yard, or a large open shed, 
without requiring any farther medical treatment whatever, where 
they remain for the space of two months at least, before they 
are taken up for work; and, of course, if longer rest is allowed 
by the owner, so much the better for the case; but two months 
will suffice. 
When it has happened that the owner has been unwilling to 
promise that period of rest, nothing has ever induced me to risk 
my credit by operating in a sit/gle instance. 
Instead of commenting on the concluding sentence of 
Mr. Fenw ick’s rather unceremonious epistle, in which he states 
to your readers, that I do not appear fully to comprehend the 
subject, I shall be content with quoting his own avowal as a 
specimen of profound knowledge in these matters, after his 
thirty years’ practice in this great metropolis. 
“For the few instances that have come under my observation, 
when the animal may happen to have made a sudden and violent 
struggle before the iron could be withdrawn, and it has unfortu¬ 
nately gone tli7'Qugh the skin, and burnt the cellular tissue, but 
without injuring either tendon , ligament , or periosteum , I have 
invariably found inflammation and sloughing follow, and many 
months have even elapsed before the poor animal has been again 
fit for service; and in one instance I recollect the animal became 
nearly useless from the consequences .” 
In conclusion, Mr. Editor, I must avail myself of this oppor¬ 
tunity of stating, that I beg to decline any further controversy, as 
my leisure is at present occupied in preparing for the press a 
work on this operation, and the various diseases for which it is 
applicable. 
I am, Sir, 
Your obliged, humble servant, 
James Turner. 
Horse Infirmary, 311, Regent Street, 
Sept. 11th. 
