308 MERCIFUL MEDICINE. 



eye steady, and take it out with steel forceps. When a particle 

 of iron or steel is partially embedded in the eye, it may sometimes 

 though very rarely be removed by a magnet. When completely 

 embedded it is less painful, but it will then be necessary to 

 uncover it with a fine needle, so that it can be taken hold of by 

 the forceps. For this purpose the needle may be stuck back- 

 wards into the shaft of % feather, to within three quarters of an 

 inch of its point, which will give a secure hold on it. Such 

 operations require a steady hand and a very good eye. In many 

 cases the eye will require the assistance of a powerful glass, 

 though all such movements are better judged and executed without 

 a glass if the eye is good enough, or the object sufficiently large. 



CHLOROFORM. 



770. — There are many operations that can be better, as well 

 as much more humanely performed, under chloroform. After the 

 horse has been put down (353), a sponge moderately saturated 

 with chloroform should be held to his nostrils, but not so close as 

 to compel him to take all his air through it. Feel the pulse fre- 

 quently, and if that becomes irregular with now and then a 

 beat missing, take away the sponge and feel the pulse until it 

 beats without intermission, when you may try again more 

 cautiously, or with the sponge a little further away. It should 

 take about three or four minutes to make a horse insensible to 

 pain, but a novice should take care not to unduly hurry the 

 business. You want to paralyze the nerves of sensatiou, but you 

 must not paralyze the nerves that preside over the action of the 

 heart or lungs. Watcli the pulse carefully, and withdraw the 

 sponge as soon as you see the horse is growing insensible to pain. 

 Don't give a breath more than is necessary. 



THE PULSE. 



771. — Each motion of the heart vibrates through all the 

 main tubes or arteries along which the blood is pumped on its 

 way from the heart, so that each stroke of the heart can be 

 counted, and the strength of its action judged, by putting a finger 

 on an artery at any point where it approaches the skin. In man 



