INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 639 



that pneumouy, either in its congestive or inflammatory form, 

 has set in ; which being the case, it becomes the imperative duty 

 of the practitioner, without any regard wliatever as to the state 

 of the pulse or the condition of his patient, to abstract blood the 

 moment he is called in. Generally speaking, a large orifice in 

 the jugular vein is to be preferred to a small one ; in cases of 

 imminent danger it is absolutely indispensable. The quantity 

 of blood to be abstracted must be as great as the patient will 

 bear ; and our sure guide in this is the effect which the efflux of 

 blood has upon the pulse at the jaw. "VVliile the blood is flowing, 

 keep your fingers applied upon the submaxillary artery ; so long 

 as you feel that pulsating, so long may the stream of blood be 

 continued ; but the instant the vessel collapses under the pressure 

 of the fingers, and pulsation is no more preceptible, let the blood- 

 can be removed and the vein pinned up. . . . The quantity 

 of blood we shall be able to draw on the first occasion will 

 vary in different subjects and under modified circumstances ; it 

 may amount to a couple of gallons, it may not exceed a couple of 

 quarts. ... A second blood-letting is often borne better 

 than a first. When the quantity taken in the first instance has 

 has been but small and inadequate, if we will only wait a few 

 hours until reaction appears to have taken place, we shall com- 

 monly be able fully to accomplish our object. Six, twelve, or 

 twenty-four hours after the first full blood-letting, guided by the 

 exigencies of the case, principally by the state of the breathing 

 and pulse, it may become necessary to repeat the bleeding, 

 regulating the quantity, as before, by the perception of the pulse 

 at the jaw. I have found it requisite to bleed thrice during the 

 first eighteen hours." — (Percivall's Hippopathology.) This was 

 the belief and doctrine not only of Percivall, Youatt, and others, 

 but of Professor Dick, wlio taught and maintained its correctness 

 up to the time of his death. A glance at the pathology of the 

 disease, no less than actual statistics, will enable any unpre- 

 judiced observer at once to see the fallacy of the doctrine ; and 

 veterinary surgeons, with but few exceptions, have been long 

 convinced that bleeding most materially increases the mortality 

 of the disease. The experience of the medical profession has 

 led them also to arrive at a similar opinion, and Dr. Wilson Fox, 

 in Reynolds' System of Medicine, sums up the conclusions upon 

 this head as follows : — 



