700 GENERAL THERAPEUTIC MEASURES 



Sometimes the veins leading from an inflamed area are 

 opened, thus securing local abstraction of blood; e. g., the 

 digital veins in laminitis ; the milk veins in mammitis. 



Scarification, or puncture, is indicated in the above- 

 mentioned conditions whenever there is great swelling, pain 

 and tension in the affected parts, and not otherwise. 



Transfusion. 



Transfusion is the transfer, directly or indirectly, of 

 blood from one living animal to another. In this process 

 the blood must be obtained from an animal of the same 

 species as the patient, but even then disintegration of the 

 blood corpuscles follows, resulting in nephritis from the 

 extra work put upon the kidneys in their effort to eliminate 

 the destruction-products of the transfused blood. Embol- 

 ism and sepsis are added dangers even when the blood is 

 defibrinated, after removal from the body of the host, and 

 only the serum is injected into the patient. 



The injection of warm, normal salt solution (.6 of 1 per 

 cent.) has been found to fill all the indications for trans- 

 fusion of blood, and yet is free from the dangers and diffi- 

 culties besetting the latter. 



Saline Infusion. 



Saline infusions are intended to replace the normal 

 blood plasma, and, therefore, should contain approximately 

 the amount of sodium chloride — .6 of 1 per cent. — contained 

 in this fluid. The solutions should be filtered and boiled 

 previous to their use, when this is possible, and are made 

 by adding a heaping teaspoonful of sodium chloride to the 

 quart of sterile water, which is used at a temperature of 

 usually 103° to 115° F., according to the mode of intro- 

 duction and circumstances. 



Simple distilled and ordinary water are noxious to the 

 tissues, while salt solution is (entirely innocuous unless it 



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