898 PHLEBITIS. 
many and such important vessels as render the termination always very 
dubious. 
PHLEBITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN. 
Formerly it was the custom to bleed horses for everything and for 
nothing. It was not even suspected that a creature which exists only to 
labor unto the limit of possibility is far more likely to be the victim of 
debility than of repletion. It never occurred to any master that his 
wretched animal wanted blood putting into it rather than abstracting 
the smallest quantity of blood from it. However, formerly bleeding 
was a favorite resort with the apothecary, and the old veterinary 
surgeon seems to have followed the bad example. Aged people have 
informed the writer that they remember the time when, on a Sunday 
morning, a long shed was filled with agricultural horses standing in a 
row. These victims were all waiting to be bled. The veterinary sur- 
geon’s assistant used to take the fleam, and to open a vein in the first 
animal’s neck. Then he would proceed to the second; and thus, in 
turn, he would open the jugulars of the entire number. No account 
was taken of the quantity of blood lost; that flowed forth till the last 
had been operated upon, when all the creatures stood simultaneously 
draining forth their lives. 
The veterinary surgeon’s assistant subsequently returned, and pinned 
up the orifice of the first horse; then he went and performed that office 
for the succeeding animal. Thus he, a second time, progressed down 
the row, pinning up as he proceeded; and the poor horses often tottered 
before he came. All this was done for a human fancy: man thought 
the loss of blood, at spring and autumn, beneficial to all kinds of life. 
The writer has heard of old ladies who were very skillful in bleeding 
cats. Most cats, however, resist such an application of medical talent ; 
not so the horse: this animal submits itself patiently to the master’s will. 
The creature seems to recognize that it has no right to exist except by 
the permission of its owner. There is no living being which acknowl- 
edges so abject a dependence. 
In return it is made a sport of the idlest whims. Hence horses, after 
bleeding, were all thought to be much benefited. They were expected 
to perform greater labor and to continue in sounder health. In vain did 
the disease visit the stable more frequently ; to no purpose was dimin- 
ished capability displayed. The ungrateful bodies of the “ plaguy beasts” 
were blamed, which would go wrong even after mortal science had ex- 
pended its wealth upon them. Man never doubted his own wisdom; he 
never questioned his own conduct; and it is astonishing the quantity of 
