64 Veterinary Medicine. 



at all, the blood should be drawn from a large orifice, in a full 

 stream, to secure the desired depressant effect with the smallest 

 loss of blood, and the patient should be kept especially quiet and 

 apart from all excitement which would tend to counteract the 

 sedative action. 



Local bleeding is more extensivelj' applicable than general, as 

 it usually effects the same purpose without the permanently weak- 

 ening effect. It acts in two ways, first, by emptying and con- 

 tracting the vessels in the skin over the inflamed organ, it solicits 

 a sympathetic contraction of the capillary vessels in that organ 

 itself, and thus inaugurates a progress toward recovery ; and 

 sscond, by so much as it draws blood to the surface it diminishes 

 the blood-pressure on the deeper inflamed organ, and affords a 

 better opportunity for the restoration of the healthy circulation 

 and function. Local bleeding may be practiced by simple scarifi- 

 cation or leeches, or better, by cupping with or without scarifica- 

 tion. To apply leeches, the skin must first be shaved. To cup, 

 it must at least be greased. As a cup, an ordinary large drink- 

 ing-glass may be used, the air contained in it being driven out by 

 a lighted taper, and then the taper being withdrawn, the mouth 

 of the cup is instantly and accurately applied on the skin and 

 held there, until, as it cools, it draws up the skin within it and 

 clings like a sucker. A number of these may be applied accord- 

 ing to the extent of the inflammation, and, if desired, they may 

 be removed, the part scarified, and the cup reapplied. The cup- 

 ping usually effects more than a mere local attraction of blood ; 

 it very commonly causes a free circulation in the whole skin, a 

 generally diffused warmth, and even perspiration. Thus we may 

 secure the derivation of blood from the inflamed part, the cooling 

 of a large mass of blood in the extensive cutaneous circulation, 

 the cooling of the entire system by the return of this blood inter- 

 nally, the elimination of injurious waste matters through the 

 skin, the lowering of the febrile heat and tension, and a better 

 functional activity of all the organs of the body. 



Similar good results are obtained from all remedies that induce 

 surface warmth and vascularity and a free secretion from the skin. 



Warm baths, for animals to which they can be applied, abstract 

 blood temporarily from the inflamed internal organs, diminish the 

 blood-pressure, and really cool the system, beside securing elimi- 



