In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 93 



a day ; pour cold water with great force upon its feet, 

 every hour day and night. Bleeding : In inflammation 

 there is a diminished action, that is, diminished con- 

 tractility of the small arteries, with increased action of 

 the heart, and the Wo together keep up that dilated 

 condition of the small vessels which is the essence of 

 inflammation. It is obvious that there are two ways 

 by which these small vessels may be restored to their 

 healthy degree of contraction, the first is by lessening the 

 quantity of blood to the part and the second by increasing 

 the contractility. In acute inflammation both these 

 remedies are required. If the inflammation be recent, 

 the small vessels may recover themselves if at once 

 relieved from the undue quantity of blood sent from the 

 heart. In this case the abstraction of blood and using 

 depressing remedies will suffice ; but if the inflammation 

 be chronic, the small vessels may have so lost their 

 contractility as not to recover themselves, though the 

 blood circulates through them in diminished quantity, 

 and in this case such remedies must be used as will 

 restore the lost contractility ; precisely the same treat- 

 ment is required as in congestion. The treatment of 

 inflammation is two-fold. It consists in diminishing 

 the quantity of blood sent out by the heart on the one 

 hand, and restoring the lost contractility on the other, 

 As increased action of the heart occurs only in acute 

 inflammation, it is in that form alone that general 

 remedies are required ; these are blood-letting, active 

 purgatives, and depressants. Bleeding alone, though 

 often repeated, will not suffice to subdue inflammation, 

 for each bleeding is followed by reaction, and that re- 



