216 INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN. 



getting into scrapes about it. The writer of this work had three house-pupils, 

 two of whom he used to trust to bleed his patients, and no untoward circum- 

 stance ever occurred ; but as surely as he sent the third, he had an inflamed 

 vein to take care of. 



There is something yet undivulged in the process of healing the vein, or in 

 the circumstances by which that healing is prevented. The most powerful 

 causes probably are, that the lips of the wound have not been brought into 

 immediate apposition, or that a portion of the hair — a single hair is sufficient 

 — has insinuated itself. The horse has not, perhaps, had his head tied up to 

 the rack after bleeding, which should always be done for at least an hour, 

 ilming which time the extravasated blood will become firmly coagulated, and 

 the flow of blood to the heart will establish its uninterrupted course. It is also 

 probable that atmospheric agency may be concerned in the affair, or a diseased 

 condition of the horse, and particularly a susceptibility of taking on inflam- 

 matory action, although the exciting cause may be exceedingly slight. 



Of the means of cure it is difficult to speak confidently. The wound should 

 be carefully examined — the divided edges brought into exact apposition, and any 

 hair interposed between them removed — the pin withdrawn or not, according 

 to circumstances — the part carefully and long fomented, and a dose of physic 

 administered. If two or three days have passed and the discharge still remains, 

 the application of the budding-iron — not too large or too hot — may produce 

 engorgement of the neighbouring parts, and union of the lips of the wound. 

 This should be daily, or every second day, repeated, according to circumstances. 

 A blister applied over the orifice, or as far as the mischief extends, will often 

 be serviceable. Here, likewise, the parts will be brought into contact with 

 each other, and pressed together, and union may be effected. " Sometimes," 

 says Mr. Cartwright, " when the vein is in an ulcerative state, I have laid it 

 open, and applied caustic dressing, and it has healed up. I have lately had a 

 case in which five or six abscesses had formed above the original wound, and 

 the two superior ones burst through the parotid gland, the extent of the ulcer- 

 ation being evident in the quantity of saliva that flowed through each orifice*." 



The owner of the horse will find it his interest to apply to a veterinary 

 practitioner as soon as a case of inflamed vein occurs. 



Should the vein be destroyed, the horse will not be irreparably injured, and 

 perhaps, at no great distance of time, scarcely injured at all; for nature is 

 ingenious in making provision to carry on the circulation of the blood. All 

 the vessels conveying the blood from the heart to the different parts of the 

 "frame, or bringing it back again to*the heart, communicate with each other by 

 so many channels, and in such various ways, that it is impossible by the closure 

 or loss of any one of them long materially to impede the flow of the vital cur- 

 rent. If the jugular is destroyed, the blood will circulate through other vessels 

 almost as freely as before ; but the horse could not be considered as sound, for 

 he might not be equal to the whole of the work required of him. 



THE PALATE— (resumed). 

 At the back of the palate (see p. Ill), and attached to the crescent-shaped 

 border of the palatine bone, is a dense membranous curtain. Its superior and 

 back surface is a continuation of the lining membrane of the nose, and its 

 anterior or inferior one that of the palate. It is called the velum palati, or veil 

 of the palate. It extends as far back as the larynx, and lies upon the dorsum, 

 of the epiglottis, and is a perfect veil or curtain interposed between the cavities 

 of the noso and mouth, cutting off all communication between them. Tied by 



* Abstract of the Veterinary Medical Association, vol. iv. p. 185 



