MIDLAND COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 837 
was not turned upside down, as the benzoline might thus escape and 
corrode the metal and more especially the wire in the hollow tubing. 
The apparatus was small, and exceedingly portable. The work by this 
could be performed more readily and more artistically. The wounds 
would heal better, and less blemish would be observable. He had, in 
fact, seen cases of pyro-punctnotomy which had scarcely left any 
blemish. 
Captain Russell said he had used the apparatus for about five months, 
and he could endorse the remarks of the President. He had placed the 
spirit-lamp, together with the remainder of the apparatus, around his 
waist, thus having his hands much more at liberty. He had modified the 
apparatus for firing for different purposes, and the whole cost was 
only £7 10s. 
Mr. Blakeway understood the apparatus to be named Thermo-cautery. 
He had seen it employed by medical men in his neighbourhood, and con¬ 
sidered that using such an apparatus was calculated to raise veterinary 
surgeons in the estimation of their clients. He thought one person 
should generate the spray whilst another used the firing instrument. 
THE TREATMENT OF SANDCRACK. 
Professor Pritchard next addressed those assembled on the subject of 
mechanical support of the hoof, or what was generally considered 
necessary in the treatment of “ sandcrack.” He wished especially to 
speak of the principle enunciated by Mr. South, of London, which not 
only dealt with the bringing the hoof into a healthy state, but also with a 
plan for supporting the hoof. The majority of practitioners had plans 
for this, but until the views of Mr. South were promulgated there had 
been various usages ; for instance, clinching was very generally used to 
prevent sandcrack, to hold the margins of the crack in apposition with 
each other. Mr. South adopted a plan which would clearly show that 
this was not absolutely necessary. He held that if the margins of the 
crack were to be kept in a perfect state of rest, it was not absolutely 
necessary that they should be in apposition to each other. Let him 
remind them that if a horse’s hoof was cracked, the animal suffered 
therefrom every time it moved its foot, for the movement caused 
the crack to deepen. Mr. South said, and rightly too, that that move¬ 
ment would only cause an opening so far, and no farther; and with that 
impression he had the idea, that if they could insert something in the 
shape of a wedge which would hold the margins of the crack, and so 
far, as the movement of the animal would bring about a spreading, it 
would have a more beneficial effect than any other mode of treatment; 
and it also occured to him that by this the horse might actually be kept 
at work. If that was so, it was a very great advantage. They had had 
hitherto to treat sandcrack in different ways, and they knew under the 
systems hitherto adopted that horses required considerable rest even in 
treating them with plasters (hear, hear). There were certain complaints 
wherein, under a certain regime of treatment, a month’s rest was neces¬ 
sary ; but Mr. South said that in his treatment the horse might go to 
work the next morning. Not only did he say this, but he (Professor 
Pritchard) had seen it done. Still Mr. South did not hold out that his 
plan would succeed in every case. There were some instances where, 
instead of proceeding direct down the hoof, the crack took a zig-zag 
course, in which, perhaps, the proposed treatment would not succeed so 
well; but Mr. South asserted that in the majority of cases his plan of 
treatment was certain to be successful. The speaker having explained 
in detail the manner in which Mr. South proposed to prevent suffering 
