DISEASES OF CATTLE 125 



be forced into a 'wound and held or bound there with bandages. This 

 is an excellent method for checking the flow of blood until the ar- 

 rival of an expert. If the flow persists, these articles may be satur- 

 ated with tincture of iron, but it is not advisable to use the tincture 

 of iron if it can be avoided, as it is a caustic, and retards healing by 

 causing a slough. The articles may be saturated with vinegar in 

 cases of necessity, or tannic acid or alum dissolved in water may be 

 used instead. The article (whichever is used) should be left in the 

 wound sufficiently long to make sure that its removal will not be 

 followed by a renewal of the hemorrhage. It must remain there one 

 or two days in some instances. 



An iron heated until it is white and then pressed on the bleed- 

 ing vessel for three or four seconds is occasionally used. It should 

 be at white heat and applied for a moment only, or else the charred 

 tissue will come away with the iron and thus defeat the purpose of 

 its application. 



Compression may be applied in different ways, but only the 

 most convenient will be mentioned. To many wounds bandages may 

 easily be applied. The bandages may be made of linen, muslin, 

 etc., sufficiently wide and long, according to the nature of the wound 

 and- the region to be bandaged. Bed sheets torn in strips the full 

 length make excellent bandages for this purpose. Cotton batting, 

 tow, or a piece of sponge may be placed on the wound and firmly 

 bound there with the bandages. 



In many instances ligating the vessel is necessary. A ligature 

 is a piece of thread or string tied around the vessel. Ligating is 

 almost entirely confined to arteries. Veins are not ligated unless 

 very large (and even then only when other means are not available) 

 on account of the danger of phlebitis, or inflammation of a vein. The 

 ligature is tied around the end of the artery, but in some instances 

 this is difficult, and it is necessary to include some of the adjacent 

 tissue, although care should be taken that a nerve is not included. 

 To apply a ligature, it is necessary to have artery forceps (tweezers 

 or small pincers may suffice) by which to draw out the artery in 

 order to tie the string around it. To grasp the vessel it may be nec- 

 essary to sponge the blood from the wound so that the end will be 

 exposed. In case the end of the bleeding artery has retracted, a 

 sharp-pointed hook, called a tenaculum, is used to draw it out far 

 enough to tie. The ligature should be drawn tightly, so that the 

 middle and internal coats will be cut through. 



Another method of checking hemorrhage is called torsion. It 

 consists in catching the end of the bleeding vessel, drawing it out a 

 little, and then twisting it around a few times with the forceps, which 

 lacerates the internal coats so that a check is effected. This is very 

 effectual in small vessels, and is to be preferred to ligatures, because 

 it leaves no foreign body in the wound. A needle or pin may be 

 stuck through the edges of a wound, and a string passed around be- 

 tween the free ends and the skin, or it may be passed around in the 

 form of a figure 8, as is often done in the operation of bleeding from 

 the jugular vein. 



