594 ABSTRACTION OF BLOOD, OR BLEEDING. 



ABSTRACTION OF BLOOD, OR BLEEDING. 



Arteriotomy. — Blood is abstracted by opening the con- 

 ducting vessels, arterial and venous. When taken from 

 arteries, the process is called arteriotomy ; when by the 

 latter, phlebotomy. Some bleedings include both these 

 operations ; as general scarifications of the soft parts ; bleed- 

 ing at the toe point ; divisions of the vessels of the cornea, 

 &c. &c. Blood-letting is called Zoca/ when it is practised on 

 or very near the affected part ; and it is supposed to act more 

 immediately than general bleeding, because it produces more 

 effect with the loss of less blood. Local bleeding is there- 

 fore usually practised on the minor branches of the arteries 

 and veins, as on the temporal artery, the plate vein, the 

 vena saphena, &c. — Leeches are a means of local bleeding 

 not often used by us in veterinary practice ; but there is no 

 reason whatever why they should not be employed ; when 

 applied to the eye, and occasionally to other parts also, 

 they adhere readily, abstracting blood rapidly ; and there- 

 fore might be valuable aids in violent local inflammation. — 

 Cupping is also practised in France and other parts of the 

 Continent wdth very large glasses, and it is there supposed 

 to act remedially in many local inflammations. By general 

 bleeding we understand the depletion of the system at large ; 

 and this we practise in extensive inflammations. 



Division of the temporal artery. — The proper spot for 

 either its puncture or division is directly where the vessel 

 leaves the parotid gland, to curve upwards and forwards 

 around the jaw, a little below its condyle. When it is 

 punctured it usually affords much blood, and in such case, 

 enough having been obtained, divide the trunk ; when the 

 receding portions becoming pressed by the integuments, 

 and lessening by their own contractility, the haemorrhage is 

 stopped. It should be punctured by a lancet ; a fleam may 

 fix itself in the bone : its division can be readily made also 

 either by a lancet or scalpel. 



Bleeding by the palate is also a species of arterio-phle- 

 botomy ; and is a very favourite spot for abstracting blood 

 with most ignorant persons, who vehemently recommend it 

 in spasmodic colic or gripes, and in megrims. In such 

 cases, however, a want of knowledge of the anatomy of the 



