216 INDICATIONS OF CRISES. [BOOK II. 



taken away in order to alleviate the heat that is 

 destroying it, and will destroy it, if the heat be not 

 subdued, at this second bleeding; for, should this 

 fail, we ought to expect little good from further at- 

 tempts, though it is desirable to try what we always 

 considered as the forlorn hope — a third bleeding. 



Should those remedies fail, suppuration takes 

 place usually in six-and-thirty hours, and the ani- 

 mal is lost. Occasionally, however, it happens with 

 low-priced animals, that the inflammation fixes it- 

 self and terminates with the destruction of one lobe 

 only of the lungs, generally that on the right side, 

 the other then performing all the functions ; but 

 how perfectly, or for how long time, we have yet no 

 means of ascertaining. At this point of his inqui- 

 ries, the studious reader had better consult over 

 again, and compare what was said upon the dissec- 

 tion of the lungs, in book i. at pages 98 to 108. 



Bleeding, though highly beneficial at first, when 

 the animal system is in full vigour, is extremely 

 dangerous after the inflammation has continued 

 some time. When weakness is indicated by swell- 

 ing of the legs, or nature seeks to relieve itself by 

 a running at the nose, then bleeding will be harm- 

 ful ; this latter was considered a most favourable 

 indication of crisis in the epidemic fevers of our 

 youth; but let us hope that the groundless fears 

 the rumour of such a plague engenders, never 

 more will visit us with affright : the idea of infec- 

 tion, in such cases, is too ridiculous to admit of 

 refutation, but was nevertheless believed by many. 



