THE ACTUAL CAUTERY IN PLEUROPNEUMONIA. 409 
accident, not understanding the nature of the injury, sent him 
home, a distance of thirty miles, over uneven and stony ground. 
He was two days on the road. When he arrived at home, it was 
lamentable to behold the poor animal. From the synovial mem¬ 
brane being so long exposed, great inflammation had taken place 
in the joint, and the symptomatic fever dependent on this also was 
very alarming. However, the horse being a great favourite, my 
father was determined to give him a chance. Accordingly, he 
was put in slings, and the usual treatment employed, such as is 
generally thought adapted to those cases, but without any good 
effect. At length, I being a student in the medical profession, and 
knowing the adhesive properties of collodion, from having seen 
it applied upon the human body, the idea struck me, that it might 
prove of service in this case, in shielding the wound from the air, 
and preventing the discharge of synovia. 
Accordingly, I advised my father to let me try it. We began 
by applying it several times in the course of the day for two days, 
at the end of which we had the great satisfaction of seeing the 
discharge of the synovial fluid completely arrested. The external 
wound was then treated in the usual manner, and at this time the 
cicatrix left is not larger than a shilling; and, what is more satis- 
facory, there is not any anchylosis of the joint. He has been 
blistered over the knee, and is at present in a small field, and 
is fast regaining his former strength. 
THE ACTUAL CAUTERY IN PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 
By JNO. MACLEAN, Veterinary Surgeon. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
Sir,— SEEING in a late number of your periodical the relation 
of a case of pleuro-pneumonia successfully treated by the appli¬ 
cation of the actual cautery, and, in the number following, some 
theoretical comments by an anonymous correspondent, in which 
the writer would make it plainly appear, that the firing irons 
could have little more beneficial effect than any other of the coun¬ 
ter-irritants we possess, I determined to put it to the test of actual 
experiment, and a fitting case was not long in presenting itself to 
my notice. The patient was a beautiful Ayrshire cow, six years 
old, and in good condition, the property of a dairyman in this 
town. She had been seized three days prior to my being called 
in. At the onset of the epidemic, which the owner, from his 
previous experience, readily detected, she was bled until she 
staggered, and a powerful purgative administered. As the dis- 
