208 
AN INTERESTING CASE OF MELANOSIS. 
for relief or for experiment—there was no other plan to be adopted; 
for the life then was jeopardized, and humanity dictated the im¬ 
mediate employment of the knife. To interfere with a cancerous 
growth is to poke a smouldering fire and cause it to flame. This 
is so well established, that I shall take no pains to prove it, but 
allow those who may be interested to do so to contradict the asser¬ 
tion, which I am prepared to maintain. The seton, however, for 
a week continued in, and when it was withdrawn no active 
measures were adopted to repair or check the consequence which 
had been provoked. This last neglect T refuse to comment upon, 
and here satisfy myself by the simple exposure of the strange and 
cruel apathy which I confess myself unable to account for or to 
excuse. 
It is only fair I should state the single argument I have heard 
advanced in defence of the proceeding on which the comments have 
been chiefly made. That the seton was wrong, the withdrawal 
of it is the best acknowledgment; but no verbal admission had 
been made of the error which the fact confesses. On the contrary, 
the measure is in some degree attempted to be justified. Melanosis, 
it is said, is a constitutional disease. The body, therefore, it is 
assumed, must be generally affected. The liver, the spleen, and 
other important organs are pointed out as already probably attacked; 
and consequently if the growth had been removed by operation, it 
is asserted, the cause would still have existed, and in the end 
would have produced death. 
This is consolatory. It reconciles the mind to a mistake, and 
soothes the indignation which surgical errors properly provoke. 
It does not settle the question whether the College authorities were 
justified in their recommendation ; but it gets rid of the point by 
implying that no serious injury has been done. 
The purpose is obviously to induce the proprietor to care nothing 
about an ugly accident, and to teach him that his property or 
interest in the life of his dumb servant has not been materially 
tampered with through a want of care or absence of knowledge on 
the part of those who were consulted for its relief. Let us, then, 
try to discover how far it answers such intention when it is tem¬ 
perately investigated. 
That melanosis is a constitutional disorder, 1 trust every pro¬ 
fessional man is aware. I have nothing with regard to so es¬ 
tablished a fact to admit or to denv. That because the disease is 
constitutional, internal organs, therefore, must be involved, or, 
being involved, must induce speedy death, is however something 
more than I can grant upon the mere assertion of interested in¬ 
dividuals. When a case has assumed an aggravated form, or 
gone to that length which renders a horse useless, the abdominal 
