The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-07-07
use decoction Of tobacco. boiled until


use decoction OF tobacco, boiled until
thick, in the place of the oil.
OF remedies generally, the Doctor
says:
Any of these remedies-and fifty
more that might be compounded simply
by combining caustics, stimulants, etc,
in different forms and proportions-will
prove sufficient for the extirpation Of
hooi-rot, with proper preparatory and
subsequent treatment. On these last,
beyond all question, principally depends
the comparative success OF the applica-
tons.
LIST. No external remedy can succeed
in this malady, unless it comes in con-
tact with all the diseased parts of the
foot; for if any part, however small, is
not reached, the unhealthy and ulcer
Gus action is perpetuated in it, and it
gradually spreads over and again in
wolves the surrounding tissues. There
fore, every portion of the diseased flesh
must be denuded of horn, filth, dead
tissue, pus. and every other substance
which can prevent the application from
actually touching it, and producing its
characteristic effects on it.
ID. The application must be kept in
contact with the diseased surfaces long
enough to exert its proper remedial in
fuence. If removed, by any means,
before this is accomplished. it must
necessarily proportionately fail in its
effects.
The preparation of the foot, then, re-
quires no mean skill. The tools must
be sharp, the movements Of the oper.
ator careful and deliberate. AS he
shaves down near the quick, he must
cut thinner and thinner, and with more
and more care or else he will either fail
to remove the horn exactly far enough,
or he will cut into the heshy sole and
cause rapid flow of blood. | have al
ready remarked that the blood can be
staunched by caustics-but they coagu
late it on the surface in mass which
requires removal before the application
of remedies, and in the progress of its
removal the blood is very frequently set
flowing again, and this sometimes sew
eral times follows the application Of the
| caustc. The toe vein bleeds very freely,
and it often requires some time and
trouble to staunch it, Cutting down to
the crack between the horny and fieshy
sole is not enough the operator must
ascertain whether there is any ulcera-
ton between the outside horny walls
and the fleshy part of the foot, or at the
toe, or whether there is even rudiment
of an unreached sinus or cavity in any
part of the foot where the liberation
has penetrated or is beginning to pene-
trate. The practiced eye decides these
questions rapidly from the characteristic
appearances, without the removal of
unnecessary horn but the new begin
ner must feel his way along, cautiously
removing more horn when there is
doubt, but so removing it that he will
not unnecessarily cause an effusion of
blood, or uncover the healthy quick, or
disarrange the proper bearing Of the
foot. If the foot is in the third state,
the removal of the maggots, the clean
ing Of the ulcers, the proper eXcision of
the dead tissues, ETC., require much
time-sometimes more than half an
hour to each foot. The most eXpe-
rienced operator can not peform such
processes in a hurry-the inexperienced
one must perform them slowly, or all
the time saved will be lost, twenty
times over, in having to repeat them for
an indefinite number of times.