Some authorities speak highly of the use of the _acid nitrate of mercury_, _fuming nitric acid_, _carbolic acid_, _the actual cautery_, etc., but in my experience their employment is attended with more suffering than follows the employment of the nitrate of silver or the simple operative treatment which will presently be described. Furthermore, the application of these remedies is not so certain to effect a cure as either of the two procedures just mentioned, so that I rarely resort to their use. The daily introduction of a _full-sized bougie_, made of wax or tallow, will sometimes act beneficially in cases of fissure, by distending the sphincter and producing such an amount of irritation as will set up a healing process in the ulcer. An application of cocaine or of belladonna ointment should be made to the part prior to the employment of the bougie. Allingham[29] strongly advocates the local use of the following ointment: ℞ Hydrarg. subchlor gr. iv. Pulv. opii gr. ij. Ext. belladonnæ gr. ij. Ung. sambuci ℨ j. M. Sig.: To be applied frequently. This authority states that he has cured many cases with this ointment alone. Another excellent ointment recommended by Mr. Allingham[30] is the following: ℞ Plumbi acetatis } __ Zinci oxidi     } aa gr. x. Pulv. calaminæ gr. xx. Adipis benzoatis ℥ ss. M. An ointment of red oxide of mercury, thirty grains to the ounce, has also cured many cases. The "Brinkerhoff System," as applied to fissures of the anus, is thus described by Dr. Edmund Andrews:[31] "Once or twice a month, as the itinerant doctor comes around on his circuit, he inserts his little speculum, cleans out the ulcer, and applies to it a solution of nitrate of silver, forty grains to the ounce. Between the applications the patient uses a morning and evening treatment himself. Each morning he is to evacuate the bowels, then inject the rectum with lukewarm water, and finally insert into it a little ointment, consisting of three grains of carbolic acid and eight grains of sulphur to the ounce of vaseline or lard. "For evening treatment he uses 'Brinkerhoff's Ulcer Remedy,' having the following composition: ℞ Extract of hamamelis dist f ℨ v. Solution of persulph. of iron f ℨ j. Cryst. carbolic acid gr. ij. Glycerine f ℨ ij. M.  Sig.: Add half a teaspoonful of this to the same quantity of starch, and about an ounce and a half of water. Inject into the rectum every evening."