210 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



inflammation, approaching to gangrene. The lungs, as far as 

 could be judged, appeared to have been antecedently disor- 

 ganised. This animal lived about fifteen days. In the earlier 

 stage the pulse Avas strong and full, and he was bled largely, 

 more so than any of my other patients. 



*' Treatment — Whenever the pulse was full and strong, I ab- 

 stracted blood, and always, I imagine, with the best effect. In 

 such instances I observed the blood slow in coagulating, and 

 invariably presenting a buffy coat. I took great care, however, 

 not to abstract too large a quantity ; and I found I could produce 

 the desired influence by half the quantity which, in ordinary in- 

 flammatory affections, it would be necessary to take away. The 

 amount of blood withdrawn was always determined by its effect 

 on the pulse, taking care, as soon as its character was materially 

 altered, and becoming softer and less perceptible, to pin lap the 

 orifice. This alteration was sometimes produced by the loss of 

 4 lbs. of blood, oftener by 6 lbs., occasionally by 8 lbs., and in a 

 few instances by lOlbs. In two or three cases where there ap- 

 peared to be severe internal inflammation, I repeated the blood- 

 letting on the following day, and in one case in the same day ; 

 but, as a general rule, even in cases where the pulse had on the 

 following day regained its strength and fulness, I abstained 

 from a second bleeding, trusting to medicine and the progress 

 of the disease to soften the pulse, which I found to take place 

 commonly on the second or third day. 



" I had recoui'se to local venesection still more frequently than 

 to general bleeding ; indeed, whenever the eyes were much in- 

 flamed, or the lids swollen, I scarified the latter with a lancet, 

 and opened the angular veins, which course of procedure I found 

 attended with the best results ; for the local inflammation gene- 

 rally subsided in the course of twelve or twenty-four hours, 

 whether I had bled generally before or not. 



" On referring to about fifty cases, I find that in twenty-three 

 I employed general bleeding, in the remainder I did not ; but in 

 twenty-five cases I bled locally, either from the eyelids and veins, 

 or the Ijars of the mouth. The majority of these were cases in 

 which I had not bled previously, and the minority belonged to 

 those in which I had before employed venesection. More than 

 one half of the horses that were bled generally were from the 

 same stable, principally young cart-horses that had been recently 

 purchased, and afterwards worked very hard. They had also 

 been allowed a considerable quantity of beans, a diet to which 

 they had not previously been accustomed. 



" Among these horses I found my severest cases, which were 

 often complicated with pneumonia, bronchitis, and other visceral 

 derangements. In them, too, the blood presented a thick buffy 

 coat, and the pulse was strong and full. 



