68 THE IMPROVED aRT OF FARRIERY. 



pen), what injurious consequences must attend such 

 proceedings ! Nor would attempts of this sort be less 

 injurious, in case a bullet should happen to be lodged 

 in the cavity of the ball or chest. Such attempts are 

 the less necessary because a great number of instances 

 have occurred where balls have quietly lodged in se- 

 veral parts of the body, till, after many years, they 

 have worked themselves a passage towards the surface, 

 and were very easily extracted ; and many, where balls 

 have been entirely left behind without occasioning any 

 inconvenience. In case the wound be occasioned by 

 a musket or pistol-shot, and of course but small, it 

 will be deemed necessary to dilate it, without delay, 

 provided the nature of the part will admit of this with 

 safety, for in wounds near a joint, or in very mem- 

 braneous or tendinous parts, the knife, as well as the 

 forceps, should be put under some restraint, nor should 

 any more opening be made than what is absolutely 

 necessary for the free discharge of the matter lodged 

 within. Where the wounded animal has not suffered 

 any great loss of blood, (and this is generally the case) , 

 it will be advisable to open a vein immediately, and 

 take a considerable quantity, and to repeat bleeding 

 on the second, or even the third day, should occasion 

 require. The letting of blood in some of these cases 

 is attended with great benefit, for it prevents a good 

 deal of inflammation, and lessens any feverish attack, 

 forwards digestion, and seldom fails to obviate impos- 

 thumations, and a long train of complicated S3^mptoms 

 which are apt otherwise to interrupt the cure, and 

 often to endanger the life of the patient. Where the 

 feverish symptoms run high, and even when there is 

 almost a certainty that matter is forming, bleeding is 

 very trequently of great advantage. If it so happen 

 that a gun-shot wound has penetrated any of the large 



