158 THE HORSE. 



branch from the face, it takes its course down the neck. Veterhiary 

 surgeons and horsemen have agreed to adopt the jugular, a little way 

 below the union of these two branches, as the place for bleeding ; and a 

 very convenient one it is ; for it is easily got at, and the vessel is large. 

 Of the manner of bleeding, and the states of constitution and disease in 

 which it is proper, we shall speak hereafter, confining ourselves at present 

 to an occasional consequence of bleeding, namely, 



INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN. 



It is usual and proper, after bleeding, to bring the edges of the cut carefully 

 together, and to hold them in contact by inserting a pin through the skin, 

 with a little tow twisted round it. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred 

 the wound quickly heals, and gives no trouble ; but in a few instances, 

 from using a blunt instrument, or a dirty or rusty one; or striking too hard, 

 and bruising the vein with the thick part of the fleam ; or pulling the skin 

 too far from the neck, and suffering some blood to insinuate itself into 

 the cellular texture ; or neglecting to tie the horse up for a little while, 

 and thereby enabling him to rub the bleeding place against the manger, 

 and tear out the pin ; or from the animal being worked immediately 

 afterward, and the collar pressing the blood against the orifice ; or the 

 reins or the bridle rubbing against it ; or having several blows clumsily 

 given, and a large and ragged wound made ; or from some disposition to 

 inflammation about the horse, for the bleeder is not always in fault, the 

 wound does not heal. The edges of it separate, and are swelled and red ; 

 a discharge of thin bloody fluid proceeds from the cut, followed perhaps 

 in a few days by matter ; the neck swells, and is hot and tender ; the vein , 

 particularly above the' wound, is hard and cordy ; the cordiness of the 

 vein increases more and more upward ; and little abscesses begin to form 

 about the original wound. This is sometimes a very serious case, for 

 the inflammation continues to spread upwards, and destroys the horse. It is 

 easy to imagine why it spreads upward, because the blood has run off below 

 the wound, and nothing remains there to irritate ; but the vein becoming 

 thickened in its coats, and diminished in its capacity, and at length quite 

 closed by the inflammation, the blood descending from the head, and press- 

 ing upon the closed part, will coagulate ; and that clot of blood will gra- 

 dually increase, and the obstruction, and the inflammation produced by that 

 obstruction, will increase, and that necessarily upward. 



Human surgeons say that inflammation of a vein spreads towards the 

 heart. In the horse, and we will venture to say in every animal, it 

 spreads in the direction in which the coagulation is formed, and that in 

 the jugular must be upward, although /rom the heart. In the veins of 

 the arm and leg it will likewise spread upward, and then towards the heart, 

 because the coagulation takes place in that direction. 



The application of the hot iron to the orifice of the wound will sometimes 

 stimulate it, and cause its edges to unite. When this fails, and the swelling 

 is large, and abscesses have formed, it is for the veterinary surgeon to 

 decide how far he will introduce setons into them, or inject a caustic liquid, 

 or dissect out the diseased portion of the vein. 



Should the vein be destroyed, the horse will not be irreparably injured ; 

 and perhaps, at no great distance of time, scarcely injured at all ; for nature 

 is ingenious in making provision to carry on the circulation of the blood. 

 All the vessels conveying the blood from the heart to the different parts of 

 the fra^e, or bringing it back again to the hearty communicate with each 



