Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-04-17

Yesterday morning. as DR.. Il. v. Pur-
dy, veterinary surgeon. was WALKING
along East Main street, near Preston
he came to blacksmith shop, and was
attracted to enter by preparations which
We're being made to perform some sort
OF surgical operation upon horse that
$1,000 patiently within while one of the
placksmlths was trying to in ert a wood
en- gag between its back teeth. The
Doctor entered and found that the par
~ was making ready to burn out the
poor Drute's mouth as a remedy for an
aHect:on known among horsemen as
the iampers." As member of the
Humane Society of Louisville, and an
intelligent friend of the equ ne race, the
Doctor peremptorily forbade the cruel
operation. and threatened the owner
and operators with the penalties of the
law to prevent cruelty to animals in
case they persisted. He came off vic
tor1ous, and the owner was compelled
to give over his designs. Talking with
reporter for the Commercial few min
utes atterward, the Doctor unbosomed
himself upon the subje t as follows:
''The custom of burning away the
gums of horses as remedy for lamp
ers' IS, am sorry to say, a very COM
mon practice. 1t is a together cruel
and unnecessary, and the re nedy is
worse in its effects than the so-called
disease. In fact, there S no such dis
ease; it is merely swollen condition
of the gums induced by indigest on,
and the remedies adopted should be
directed to the Eat of the disease, the
stomach. and care should be taken TO
remove the predisposing cause, which
IS either improper food or overwork,
and usually both. All local treatment
should be palliative merely, and the
most heroic should not go beyond
simple scarifying of the swollen gums
to relieve the inflammation. Think OF
burning away the gums entirely and
leaving the delicate and sensitive parts
OF the animals teeth exposed to sudden
changes of temperature or shocks in
volved from dr. hiking cold water or eat
ing food with gritty, fiinty ingredients,
ike corn! 1t is perfectly horrible to
treat horse after such a fashion, and
l propose to Use all the influence of the
Humane Society, backed by the powers
OF the law, to put stop to it in Louis
ville.''
'Is not this burning recommended by
the medical works on the horse.''
NO, sir; and nobody but brute or
an idiot, or what is the next tn NO to an
idiot, the man who has no surgical
knowledge Of treating horses disease,
would ever think of resorting to it. The
fact that it has been practiced for years
by ignorant and heartless persons is no
argument in its behalf. 1t is wrong, in
famously and radically wrong. and the
general public ought to know it,
Are you positive that this practice
prevails to any great extent in Louis
Ville?''
Eyes: if what horseman connec ed
with First street stable told me and
others say about the matt is true. A
man at the stables mentioned lau he'd
at me when 1 told him what did at the
blacksmith shop. 'Why, he said, i
have burned over a hundred horses for
the lamp rs. and will burn as many
more as occasion requires.
"What did you say?''
''I said if he d he would be made to
suffer for it. But the only way to stop
the baroarity is to watch for cases and
make prominent examples of them.
The prejudice and ignorance on this
subject is perfectly appalling. You
would not believe ME should | tell of the
amount of superstition and fool-killing
idiocy practiced on this modest of all
quairupeds, even by those who ought
to know letter from intimate associa-
ton and pecuniary connection with
them. "-L0uisc5He Commercial.