172 BIEBDING. 



especial attention should be paid to tlie economising of vital 

 force ; and tliis can only be done by giving it every aid and 

 support vyithin our povrer. "What shall we say then to. direc- 

 tions such as the following ? " Under ordinary circumstances," 

 says Mr. Percival, " the abstraction of a gallon of blood is 

 reckoned a moderate bleeding. Under pressing disease I occar 

 sionally draw three gallons : I have heard of four being taken."* 

 "We have no hesitation in saying that directions more atro- 

 ciously destructive to animal life could not well be exceeded, 

 unless they were such as to encompass the immediate death 

 of the animal. "We used at one time to bleed frequently : but 

 never during the most sanguinary days did we venture to 

 abstract from any poor animal three gallons of the vital fluid 

 at one time. 



* "Percival's Hippopathology," 2nd edit., vol. 1., p. 95. 



