SURGERY IN FISTULA-PIPE OR REED ? 
185 
treated with caustics. The after-treatment consisted of oiling 
• the hair immediately below the wound to protect the hair 
and skin, and keep clean ; your removal of the cause, and hav- 
a dependent opening, will ensure a speedy cure. 
The usual application of powerful caustics to fistulous af¬ 
fections to destroy the secreting membrane, consists of the fol¬ 
lowing, and every quack and would-be horseman has his fa¬ 
vorites : Glacial acetic acid, corrosive sublimate, carbolic 
acid, nitric. Hd. Hz. and So 4 agnoz., chloride of antimony, 
caustic soda and potash, etc.; all are exceedingly heroic 
treatment. The pain and suffering caused by these very 
powerful agents is most intense, and quite opposed to rules 
governing modern surgery, granted that these fistulas can 
be cured by use of these escharotics, provided that by exten¬ 
sive sloughing the dependent part enables the escape of ac¬ 
cumulated pus and debris. 
The amount of sloughing, creasing, and wasting of mus¬ 
cles is a standing discredit to the qualified practitioner, bor¬ 
dering on the ignorant charlatan, who has cured some minor 
cases, no doubt, and aspires to combat all diseases of the lower 
animals. His treatment is as follows : Secure your horse to 
a tree where there is no possibility of escape, and pour in 
from a safe distance boiling oil or solution of salt, lye, acids, 
and the hotter the better ; all is ready to adopt any or all 
suggested nostrums, and one application is sufficient to make 
the horse frantic, dangerous to approach, and will naturally 
fight fc 5 r his life; this should be undisputable proof that it is 
not necessary to subject the poor animal to such an inhuman 
mode of treatment, and the Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals should make an example of him. 
Mild astringents .—By the application of mild astringent 
injections after the foreign body is removed, minor fistu¬ 
lous wounds (e. g.) those caused by twigs, shot, punctures, 
etc., are readily stimulated, and one of the finest is peroxide 
of hydrogen ; this causes very little inconvenience, and causes 
the unhealthy tissue to ooze and foam, but does not affect 
healthy parts. 
Set on .—The application of a seton is very frequently the 
