222 BLEEDING. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BLEEDING ; TORSION ; CASTRATION ; PARTURITION ; AND SOME 

 DISEASES CONNECTED WITH THE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



BLEEDING. 



THIS operation is exceedingly useful in many accidents and diseases. It 

 is, in fact, as in the horse, the sheet-anchor of the practitioner in the ma- 

 jority of cases of an inflammatory character. There is some difference, 

 however, in the instrument to be used. The lancet is the preferable 

 instrument in the performance of this operation. The fleam should be 

 banished from among the instruments of the veterinary surgeon. 



A ligature being passed round the lower part of the neck, and the head 

 being held up a little on one side, the vein will protrude on either side of 

 the windpipe. It will usually be advisable to cut away a little of the hair 

 over the spot designed to be punctured. When a sufficient quantity of 

 blood is abstracted, it will generally be necessary, and especially if the dog 

 is large, to pass a pin through both edges of the orifice, and secure it with 

 a little tow. 



When no lancet is at hand, the inside of the flap of the ear may be punc- 

 tured with a pen-knife, the course of a vein being selected for this purpose. 

 In somewhat desperate cases a small portion of the tail may be amputated. 



The superficial brachial vein, the cephalic vein of the human subject, 

 and the plat vein of the farrier, may be resorted to in all lamenesses of the 

 fore limb, and especially in all shoulder-wrenches, strains of the loins, and 

 of the thigh and the leg, and muscular and ligamentous extensions of any 

 part of the hind limbs ; the vena saphena major, and the anterior tibialvein 

 may be punctured in such cases. 



The quantity of blood to be abstracted must be regulated according to 

 the size and strength of the dog and the degree of inflammation. 



One or two ounces may be sufficient for a very small dog, and seven or 

 eight for a large one. 



TORSION. 



To M. Amusat, of Paris, we are indebted for the introduction of the 

 artery-forceps for the arresting of hemorrhage. I shall do but justice to 

 him by describing his mode of proceeding. He seizes the divided vessel 

 with a pair of torsion-forceps in such a manner as to hold and close the 

 mouth of the vessel in its teeth. The slide of the forceps then shuts its 

 blade, and the artery is held fast. The artery is then drawn from out of 

 the tissues surrounding it, to the extent of a few lines, and freed, with 

 another forceps, from its cellular envelope, so as to lay bare its external 

 coat. The index and thumb of the left hand are then applied above the 

 forceps, in order to press back the blood in the vessel. He then begins 

 to twist the artery. One of the methods consists in continuing the torsion 

 until the part held in the forceps is detached. When, however, the 



