Superiority of cautery over caustic, sites to avoid and burning materials

Fire is said to be sharper than kshara: diseases burnt with it are destroyed from the root and do not recur, and diseases not curable by kshara, medicine or knife yield to it. It is not to be used on ligaments, bones and joints even in a patient fit for cautery; bone, metals, reeds, rods, ghee, oil, jaggery, cow dung and the like are the means of burning. Footnotes cite another text and explain its contrary view on these sites.