88 REMARKS ON BLOODLETTING. 



REMARKS ON BLOODLETTING. 



In justice to the veterinary surgeons of this country, the 

 author would inform the reader that professional bleeding is 

 very rarely resorted to. To bleed a horse in the present 

 enlightened age, when he is in a state of plethora, or the 

 blood in a morbid state, would be bad practice, for we cannot 

 purify a well of water by withdrawing a bucket ; neither can 

 we purify the whole mass of blood by abstracting a portion. 

 The author has seen several cases where the poor animal 

 (a victim to science) had been so far and fatally drained of the 

 living principle, that there was not sufficient blood left in the 

 system to produce reaction. We have profited by the fatal 

 errors that have been committed under our own observation, 

 and have never drawn a drop of blood from a horse, (except 

 in surgical operations, when it could not be avoided,) neither 

 vnll we ever, under any circumstances, resort to the lancet ; for 

 we are convinced that bloodletting is a powerful depresser of 

 the vital powers. 



Blood is the fuel that keeps the lamp of life burning : if 

 the fuel is withdrawn, the lamp is extinguished; hence, if 

 " life is the sum of the powers that resist disease," then 

 whatever enfeebles life must produce disease and. death. 



An eminent physician has said, that " after the practice 

 of bloodletting was introduced by Sydenham, during the 

 course of one hundred years, more died of the lancet alone 

 than those who in the same time perished by war.'' 



Dr. Hunter says, in relation to the human being, — and 

 the same applies to the brute, — that "bloodletting is one of 

 the greatest weakeners, as we kill thereby." 



Professor Lobstein says, " So far from bloodletting being 

 beneficial, it is productive of the most serious consequences — 

 a cruel practice, and a scourge to humanity. How many 

 thousands are sent by it to an untimely grave! Without 

 blood there is no heat, no motion in the body." For more 

 important information, see Good's Study of Medicine, vol. i. 



