BLACK LEG. 
359 
Aseton is inserted in the following manner: With the left 
hand pull a flap of skin of the dewlap (or brisket) down as far 
as possible, then with a sharp knife make a hole through the 
skin, i. e. from one side until the point of the blade appears on 
the opposite side of the flap, then insert a two or three inch 
wide tape or a good sized string in the incision. When a 
seton is in place it bears the same relation to the skin that a 
thread passed through a fold of cloth bears to that fold. 
Knots are made at each end, or the ends are so tied together 
as to prevent the string from pulling out. A little liquor am¬ 
monia or corrosive sublimate on the string or tape will in¬ 
crease suppuration. The seton should be pulled to and fro 
once or twice a week at least. 
As to medicinal treatments, experiments with mercurial 
preparations, carbolic acid, mineral acids, iron and copper 
preparations, sulphurated agents, and various antiseptics 
have failed. I have tried also several “ sure cures ” and speci¬ 
fics (?) recommended, for the purpose of satisfying the de¬ 
mands of the people and the claims of the manufacturers, but 
I have failed with all. Pure salt and sulphur, limewater, etc., 
etc., are, so far as our experience goes, of little if any value as 
curative medicines. We shall experiment this year with a line 
of new and untried drugs. 
Yet there are cases in which it is desirable to attempt a 
cure even though chances are much against success. This is 
particularly true in very valuable animals found ill at an early 
hour, or in slow, dragging cases. In these I have found the 
following treatment the most beneficial of all that 1 have tried, 
though it is seldom indeed that recovery occurs with even 
that. 
* Place the animal in a lot, yard or stable, empty the 
bowels, and activate all the secretions, particularly the urine, 
in order to favor the expulsion of the poisonous germs and of 
their products from the body. To attain this object give io 
grains to three drams of calomel mixed in a little oil, say 12 
ounces of raw linseed oil or castor oil, every three or four 
* This for cattle five months to two years old. 
