132 PNEUMONIA. 
seems half dead; thus we are warranted in imagining that the attack has 
embraced all the component structures of the lungs, and that it consists 
in no small degree of congestion. 
The general practice is to bleed, and to bleed largely; to let the 
current run till the animal is on the point of fainting ; then, as bleeding 
always quickens the pulse, more blood is abstracted to lower it; this not 
answering, the same plan is adhered to. The vein is tapped and the 
liquor drawn, as though the vital fluid were table beer, and the animal 
an inanimate cask. At last, nature resents such repeated depletion. 
No sooner is the fleam struck than weakness is alarmed; then the eyes 
and nostrils are sponged with cold water, to procure a little more blood; 
until, at last, the animal dies, as practitioners have said, because the 
horse could not bear bleeding enough ! 
The writer does not advise to destroy the strength, which is now 
essential to surmount disease. Bleed only once, then take no more than 
will afford ease to the sufferer; if a pint accomplishes that object, a 
pint is sufficient. Be guided neither by the quantity abstracted nor by 
the faltering of the pulse; watch the head of the animal; so soon as 
that is raised and the general aspect denotes a sense of life, pin up the 
orifice ; but think twice before you bleed once, and shun the operation 
if it can possibly be avoided, or if the fluid has a thick and black ap- 
pearance, dribbling down the neck, not spirting from the vein. 
When you first behold the horse, carefully examine it; place your ear 
to the side; in health there is only a gentle blowing sound audible; if 
more than that is heard ; if something within the chest seems to grate or 
suck; if, in addition, any noise, as of a huge pair of bellows at violent 
work, is detected, make up your mind to a case of pneumonia. No time 
is to be lost; procure a large and airy loose 
box; strew it thickly with tan; do this, be- 
cause pneumonia has an aptitude ‘to fall 
into the feet,” as grooms say, or, in other 
language, the disease is subject to metastisis, 
and the inflammation will sometimes quit 
the lungs to reappear in the feet ; something 
soft and cool is most likely to prevent such 
a mishap; therefore, when the tan is strewn 
upon the floor, moisten it with a watering- 
pot, and have the iron shoes taken off the 
A STEAMING APPARATUS. animal. 
Place a pail of water within easy reach 
of the horse. Food—even gruel—is not now required. If it is winter, 
put a hood upon the head and throw a loose cloth over the loins and 
