—are artificial drains (or minor kind of rowels) in horses, corresponding in effect with the issues inserted in the arms or thighs of the human species. They are generally made upon the cheek, or under the jaws of a horse, for some defect in, or inflammation of the eyes. A writer of much celebrity admits "their utility to be very great, because they facilitate the discharge of matter from abscesses, without the necessity of admitting much air; the influence of which upon an ulcer, produces pain and symptomatic fever." Another observes, that, "when tumours are taken in time, whether on the POLL, WITHERS, or BACK, not having been injudiciously retarded by common farriers, (whose management in this case is always worse than the DISEASE,) they may be carried off, and brought to heal by the discharge from SETONS, without any of the usual butchery, or cauterization, or the least blemish or loss of parts. Farriers (he continues) are always very much disposed to proceed with the knife, before the matter of the TUMOUR is fully concocted, by which error they treble the difficulty, protract the period of cure, and probably leave an indurated enlargement, which is never effaced."
The operation is in itself exceedingly simple, and is thus performed: the practitioner being provided with a seton needle, of a size and length proper for the tumour to be discussed, and having armed it with a sufficient number of cotton threads, in proportion to the effect required, and dipped in digestive ointment warm, the needle is to be introduced (if possible) at the upper part of the swelling, and the point conducted through the whole, and brought out at the bottom, as a depending orifice is of considerable advantage in assisting the discharge. The seton having been passed through the ABSCESS or TUMOUR, is then separated from the needle, and the two ends tied together: or if the length will not admit of that, a knot may be formed, or a wooden button may be affixed to each end, by which it may be occasionally pulled up or down, as when the two ends are tied together, it may be moved in a circle. When the swelling is perfectly reduced, and the offending matter entirely run off, the seton may be withdrawn, and the orifice will soon unite, and form a cicatrix, without any farther application.
SETTING DOG
—is perhaps, in respect to natural formation and effect, the most beautiful and attracting of the canine species: there is an elegance of figure, an uniformity of shape, make, and speed; a pleasing variegation in colour, (being generally yellow, or brown pied;) an inexpressibly anxious solicitation of notice, and an aspect of affability and anticipating gratitude, beyond the power of the PENCIL to depict, or the PEN to describe. The sporting business of the SETTING-DOG (commonly called the English setter) is precisely the same with the POINTER, but with this difference, that, admitting their olfactory sensations to be equally exquisite, and that ONE can discover and receive the particles of SCENT (alias the effluvia of the game) as readily, and at an equal distance, with the OTHER, the difference of the sport, in which they are separately engaged, renders it necessary that one should do upon his legs, what the other does by prostration upon the ground; and they are neither more or less than the effect of education; for as in the sport of SHOOTING (with the pointer) the GAME is expected to rise, so in drawing (with a setting-dog and net) the BIRDS are required to lie.
Naturalists seem to have assumed a greater degree of latitude in respect to the CANINE SPECIES, than in any other part of the creation, where they have been less at a loss. Great musical teachers inculcate strongly, one forcible precept upon the minds and memories of their PUPILS, which is, "when they happen to err in execution, never to stop; because it will inevitably serve to convince the auditors, such are inadequate to the task they have undertaken; when by keeping on, not one in fifty may know an accidental mis-movement has taken place." Just so it seems to have been with speculative delineators of the CANINE RACE; where the pedigree could not be ascertained, the peculiar kind of any distinct class appears to have been accidentally forgotten. It does not seem that the origin of the POINTER is any where described, or by any writer attempted; but by the most respected authority we have, from whence information, instruction, and entertainment, can and may be derived, we are told, "the HOUND, the SETTING-DOG, and the TERRIER, are only one and the same race of DOGS; for it has been remarked, that the same birth has produced setting-dogs, terriers, and hounds, though the hound bitch has only had access to one of the three dogs." The true state of the case is precisely this, that although Nature, in her outlines, has furnished the canine race with powerful instinctive properties, by which their propensities, their pleasures, their dislikes, and attachments, may be disclosed; and notwithstanding it must be admitted, their olfactory sensations are refined in an extreme degree beyond the human species; yet much depends upon the means, mode and manner of education. This has been demonstrated a few years since beyond all manner of controversy, when a gamekeeper absolutely brought a full-grown PIG to hunt and point to the BIRDS; and procured a considerable emolument from displaying repeated proofs of his ingenuity, patience, and perseverance.
SETTER
,—in the game of HAZARD, is the person who sets the CASTER; or, in other words, the player, who makes stakes with the person holding the box and dice, who, if he THROWS IN, draws the money; on the contrary, if he throws out, the setter is the winner.
SETTER-TO
—is a term in cocking. The setter-to is the person who in a cock-pit receives the cock (going to fight) from the feeder, and hands him upon the SOD during the battle, according to the laws of the pit, and the conditions of the match. See Cocking, Cock-pit, and Main of Cocks.