On applying the hand to the horn or horns of a sick beast, an unnatural heat, or sometimes coldness, is felt: this enables us to judge of the degree of sympathetic disturbance. And here, reader, permit us to protest against a cruel practice, that is much in fashion, viz., that of boring the horns with a gimlet; for it does not mend the matter one jot, and at best it is only treating symptoms. The gimlet frequently penetrates the frontal sinuses which communicate with the nasal passages, and where mucous secretion, if vitiated or tenacious, will accumulate. On withdrawing the gimlet, a small quantity of thick mucus, often blood, escapes, and the interested operator will probably bore the other horn. Now, it often happens that after the point of the gimlet has passed through one side of the horn and bony structure, it suddenly enters a sinus, and does not meet with any resistance until it reaches the opposite side. Many a "mare's nest" has been found in this way, usually announced as follows: "The horn is hollow!" Again, in aged animals, the bony structure within the horn often collapses or shrinks, forming a sinus or cavity within the horn: by boring in a lateral direction, the gimlet enters it; the horn is then pronounced hollow! and, according to the usual custom, must be doctored. An abscess will sometimes form in the frontal sinuses, resulting from common catarrh or "hoose;" the gimlet may penetrate the sac containing the pus, which thus escapes; but it would escape, finally, through the nostrils, if it were let alone. Here, again, the "horns are diseased;" and should the animal recover, (which it would, eventually, without any interference,) the recovery is strangely attributed to the boring process. An author, whose name has escaped our memory, recommends "cow doctors to carry a gimlet in their pocket." We say to such men, Lead yourselves not into temptation! if you put a gimlet into your pocket, you will be very likely to slip it into the cow's horn. Some men have a kind of instinctive impulse to bore the cow's horns; we allude to those who are unacquainted with the fact that "horn ail" is only a symptom of derangement. It is no more a disease of the horns than it is of the functions generally; for if there be an excess or deficiency of vital action within or around the base of the horn, there must be a corresponding deficiency or excess, as the case may be, in some other region.