64 BLEEDING. 



a half skewer ; and do not forget to tie the head up 

 for an hour, and to see that he does not rub the part 

 afterwards, or inflammation and loss of the vein may 

 follow. The pin should be gently drawn out two 

 days after, first cutting the horse-hair or thread tied 

 round it with a pair of scissors. If the blood does 

 not flow sufficiently free and quick, keep his mouth 

 in motion by putting your fingers in at the corners, and 

 throw hot water over the loins, if needed, or put a 

 sheepskin or half-a-dozen jhools over them. 



Take care that your fleam and lancet are clean, and 

 not rusty, and always ascertain how much the koondee 

 holds that is to receive the blood, or you may take 

 away a gallon and a half for a gallon, which I have 

 often seen done. 



The blood should fall in a stream into the middle 

 of the koondee, or nothing can be judged from the 

 colour of it afterwards ; and it must rest undisturbed 

 in the shade for hajf an hour, which is about the time 

 it takes to coagulate. The appearance, however, the 

 blood puts on after its coagulation, and the coagula- 

 tion being slow or quick, is so exceedingly complicated 

 an affair, and influenced by so many causes, that no 

 criterion as to the degree of inflammation can be gain- 

 ed by it, at least by us ; the great thickness of the 

 buffy or sizy coat at top being present in a state of 

 health as well as under disease ; and often none at all 

 existing, though the blood may be darker, when the 

 inflammation is greatest. When, however, the blood 

 has become solid, after being drawn in a full stream, 

 and is found with or without this sizy coat, yet at 

 the same time thin or watery, it will, perhaps, more 

 correctly denote that it ought not to have been taken. 



