A DICTIONARY. 



277 



" Phlebotomy, or the puncture of a venous 

 branch, is the most usual mode of drawing 

 blood in veterinary practice, and may be 

 employed on any point of the body ; but 

 some vessels are much more frequently 

 opened than others, and most of all the 

 jugular. — Bleeding by the thigh vein. The 

 saphena is a prominent vein, continued from 

 the inner part of the hock, and may be 

 opened by the fleam ; but with much greater 

 safety and propriety by a lancet. The 

 opposite leg being held up, the operator 

 placing himself in front of the tliigh, and 

 steadying himself and the horse by placing 

 one hand on the hock, may fix the vein 

 with the little finger of the other ; while the 

 lancet held between the thumb and fore 

 finger punctures it. This vein should never 

 be opened, save upon absolute necessity, as 

 it is often troublesome to pin up. A horse 

 has been cast for the trivial matter of stop- 

 ping the haemorrhage. — Bleeding from the 

 plate vein. This vein is frequently opened 

 to abstract blood after injuries of the fore 

 extremities. — The superficial brachial vein 

 is a continuation of the superficial division 

 of the metacarpal veins, and in the passage 

 upwards receives more than one branch ; its 

 principal trunk ascends along the inner side 

 of the radius. It may also be well to re- 

 mark, that, v/hen ta]>ing blood from the 

 superficial veins of the arm or fore-arm, if 

 any difficulty is experienced in obtaining a 

 sufficient flow, the lifting up of the other 

 leg, by throwing the muscles of the punc- 

 tured one into action, will force the blood 

 from the inner to the outer set ; and an in- 

 creased quantity may be obtained. The 

 plate vein, or external thoracic, is often 

 opened, as it emerges from behind the arm, 

 and is pinned up without any difficulty. 



" Bleeding by the jugular vein. — The situ- 

 ation of this important vessel is well known, 

 but its internal connections are not so 

 familiar, though such knowledge is essen- 

 tial to the uniform safety of the operation. 

 The horse has only external jugular veins, a 

 right and a left one : as each emerges from 

 the chest, it is found deep-seated, and ap- 

 proaching the trachea ; it then passes for- 



wards in company with the external carotid 

 artery : toward the middle of the neck it 

 becomes more superficial, and is now dis- 

 tinctly seen progressing rather above and 

 without the carotid artery and trachea, or 

 windpipe. The carotid, therefore, in the 

 future course of the jugular, is situated a 

 Httle below and more deep-seated than the 

 vein. The jugular is also separated from 

 the carotid by a slight muscular band, de- 

 rived from the levator humeri. Its further 

 track is marked in the hollow formed by 

 the inferior edge of the levator humeri, 

 where it is covered by the panniculus car- 

 nosus and integuments only ; when, having 

 nearly reached the jaw, it makes its well- 

 known division into two portions. Bleeding 

 by the jugular is usually practised with a 

 lancet or with a fleam. The proper spot 

 for the- puncture may be found anywhere 

 between two inches and six from the division 

 of the vein : this latitude is here mentioned, 

 because it is prudent to avoid puncturing 

 directly over a former bleeding-place, known 

 by the scar and enlargement : it should also 

 be avoided where a little knot in the course 

 of the vein will sometimes denote the exis- 

 tence of one of the venous valves. But in 

 all ordinary cases, where these hindrances 

 do not appear, operate at two or three 

 inches from the division of the vein ; which 

 will be sufficiently evident when it is pressed 

 on below the place punctured. Avoid 

 operating low down in the neck, as there 

 the vessel is deeper seated, and near to im- 

 portant parts. 



" First moisten the hair and smooth it 

 down ; then, steadying and enlarging the 

 vessel with one hand, with the other plunge 

 the point of the lancet into the integuments, 

 so as just to puncture them and the vein ; 

 then, by a slight turn of the wrist, carry the 

 instrument obliquely forward to finish the 

 cut. For opening the smaller veins, the 

 lancet should always be used. In all but 

 the practised hand, the fleam is the safest 

 for bleeding from the jugular ; it is always 

 prudent to have the eye of the horse cov- 

 ered : unless the eye be covered, the horse 

 will be likely to ffinch at the moment of 



