CHAP. II.] AND APPEARANCE OF COAGULUM. 561 



graduated circular lines, and numbered from the 

 bottom by pints each. Glass forms the neatest 

 vessel ; but pewter offers a less brittle material in 

 horse medicine. The blood should be preserved 

 awhile in the vessel, that the form it assumes in 

 coagulating may be noted and remarked upon ; as 

 commonly happens most indiscreetly by all by- 

 standers, whether it be caught or not ; for very few 

 can pronounce accurately, upon the view, the quan- 

 tity of disease the blood indicates, particularly when 

 it is on the ground ; nor yet when in a vessel, unless 

 it be caught properly. 



Let the vessel be presented so as to catch the 

 blood fairly, and not be permitted to trickle down 

 the sides, whereby the manner of its coagulation is 

 affected. Blood that is drawn from a healthy horse 

 soon congeals in nearly one uniform mass, about one 

 fifth of water only remaining at the top ; from the 

 residue you may wash away the red or colouring par- 

 ticles, and leave a palS thick coagulum or lymph. In 

 a pound of such blood will be found these pro- 

 portions — viz. 8 ounces of thick lymph, 5 ounces 

 of the red or colouring particles, 3 ounces watery. 

 If the operator keep stirring the blood until it cools, 

 the water does not separate, but the whole forms 

 one homogeneous mass. In cases of.great inflam- 

 mation or fever, the watery proportion is much less, 

 and the blood is then consequently more viscid or 

 thick ; which proves that this viscidity is an ac- 

 companying symptom of the disorder, as maintained 

 in various parts of this volume ; but, as the fever 



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