B L E 



BLEDSOE I^iCK, in Gfography, lies in tlie Rate of Te- 

 ^efiee, in America, 32 miles from Big Salt Lick garnion, 

 'and 36 from Nafliville. 



BLEEDA, or Blida, in Geo^raph'i, a town of Africa, 

 in the kingdom of Algiers, and province of Titeri, is fituate 

 ill the interior of the co'intry, over-agair.ft the mouth of the 

 Ma-Saffran, at five leagues dillance, under the fliadc of a 

 lidge of moun'ains, forming a part of mount Atlas. It is 

 about a mile in circuit, encompafied by a wall chiefly of mud 

 perforated by hornets, and tolerably populous, but with- 

 out much trade ; fome of the houfes are flat-roofed, and others 

 tiled ; it is well-watered, as a branch of an adjacent rivulet 

 may be conduced through every houfc and garden, and it 

 is furrounded by very fruitful gardens and plantations. As 

 Blecda and Medea (fee Medea) lie nearly in the fame 

 meridian, and are fituated at a proper dillance from the 

 Haniam Mereega, the Aqux Cahdae Colonia ot the ancients, 

 and as their modem and ancient names refemble one ano- 

 ther. Dr. Shaw fuppofes that we may take one for the 

 Bida Colonia, and the other for the Lamida of Ptolemy. 

 That part of mount Atlas which lies between thefe towns, 

 and reaches as far as mount Jurjura, is inhabited by nume- 

 rous clans of Kabyles ; few of which, from their rugged 

 fiLuation, have been made tributary to the Algerines. The 

 Beni Sala and Hrileel overlook Bleedii, and the rich plains of 

 ^lettijah ; whiiil the Beni Selim and Haleefa fometimes 

 defcend into the pafture gror.nd, near the banks of the 

 Biflibelh, or river of fennel, of which a great quantity grows 

 on its banks. Siiaw's Travels, p. 36. 



BLEEDING, or Blood-letting, in Medicine, a fpe- 

 cies of evacuation frequently reforted to, as a principal re- 

 medy in inflammatory afFeftions, fuch as pleurify, peri- 

 pneumony, phreniti«, quinfey, enteritis, acute rheumatifm, 

 &c. ; and in diforders accompanied with plethora. Inch as 

 mania, apoplexy, &c. See thefe difcafea feparatcly. In all 

 thefe cafes, the earlier this remedy is employed the better, 

 and efpecialiy in thofe inflammatory diforders, fuch as phre- 

 nitis and peripneumony, where, from the great vafcularity 

 of the part, the progrefs of the inflammatory aftion is ex- 

 tremely rap'd, and the injury done to organs fo eflential to 

 lite, often becomes irreparable. 



Nor is the timing of this remedy the only circumftance 

 that requires attention. Other circumfliances of equal 

 moment are to be attended to ; viz. the quantity of evacuation., 

 and the fuddt'itnefs tuith luhich it is effeded. The quantity 

 mull be regulated by the degree and feat of inrfamma- 

 tory action, and the age and conllitution of the patient. 

 The appearances of the blood, when drawn (fee Blood), 

 are commonly regarded as a good criterion for regulating 

 the repetition of the lancet, and the quantity to be taken 

 away each time ; but the flate of the pulle affords a much 

 better guide ; and venefeftion will often be found neceffary 

 in cafes where the buffy coat or fizy appearance of the blood 

 is not prefent in anv confiderable degree. 



The impreflion produced upon the fyltem isver)- different, 

 according as the blood is drawn from a large or a fmall ori- 

 fice ; i.e. according as it is evacuated fuddenlv or flowly. 

 The former method is to be praftifed in all violent inflam- 

 mations of parts eflential to life ; fuch as the brain, the 

 lungs, the llomach, &c ; for thus the increafed ailion of 

 the vafcniar fyltem is fubdued ahnoll on the onlet ; a mo- 

 mentary deliquium is induced (u Hate the oppofite to that in 

 which the morbid condition conlifted), from which the mod 

 benelicial confequences refult. 



Provided equal quantities of blood be drawn in equal 

 times, it matters not whether it be taken from the right or 

 the left arm ; in other v.-ords, fuppofing, in the cafe of p!cu- 



2 



B L E 



lify, the feat of the pa'n and inflammation to be in the ripfii 

 fide, thofe fymptoms will be as fpeedily removed by taking 

 away in the whole thirty ounces of blood at three different 

 times from the left arm, as they would be, if the fame quan- 

 tity were taken away from the right arm, in the fame 

 number of times, and from orifices equal'y large ; becaufe 

 in both cafes there is the fame quantity abllrafted from the 

 whole mafs of blood, and conleqiiently from the quantity 

 circulating through the lungs, and their inveiling mem- 

 branes ; whence the general and local effeft s in both cafes 

 are ukimatclv the fame. Hence the futility of the doftrine 

 of Revulfion, about which fuch warm difputes were at 

 one tim.e carried on. 



Hitherto we have merely hinted at the general efaJs pro- 

 duced upon the fyftem by blood-letting. It will now be 

 expefted that we fhould fpecify what they are. The firll 

 and mofl; obvious efieft is upon the heart and arteries. The 

 blood is to them a Itimulus ; confequently, by withdrawing 

 a quantity of that fluid from them, we withdraw a propor- 

 tionate quantity of ftimulus, and bring down their action fo 

 much nearer to their natural flandard. Tbeabforbents par- 

 ticipate in this change ; wlience_ a lefs impeded exhalation 

 takes place. At the fame time a diminution of the animal 

 heat fucceeds. But the cerebral fyftem and the vafcular 

 fyftem are fo intimately connctted, that the one cannot be 

 materially aiTecfled without producing a correfponding tficft 

 upon the other. This is proved by the deliquium and coi>- 

 vullions wliich fucceed to fudden and profufe hamiorrliages. 

 Thus it appears that the beneficial effefts of blood-letting, 

 in the diforders to which it is applicable, are not owing 

 merely to the ab!tra£lion of a quantity of the circulating 

 mafs, and confequent abatement of activity in the fangui- 

 ferous vefTels ; but alfo to the abftraftion of a quantity of 

 the fuperfluous Animal Heat, and to the impreflions at 

 the fame time made upon the lymphatic veflTels, and finally 

 upon th; fyftem of brain and nerves. 



From this view of a remedy fo powerful and fo extenfive 

 in its operation, it is cafy to perceive what mifchievous and 

 even dangerous confequences muil refult from its abufe^ 

 Being the moft fpeedily debilitating of all remedies, it is ob- 

 vious that what is termed general hlcedir.g ought never to be 

 reforted to, but in cafes where the pulle denotes an increafed 

 degree of llrength, as well as exceffive activity. It has been 

 from attending merely to its increafed adlivity, and the ac- 

 companying accumulation of heat, without a due eftimation 

 of the Ifrength of the pulfe, in fevers and ether diforders 

 fuppofed to be inflammatory, that fo much abufe has been 

 committed in~the employment of the lancet. See Fever ; 

 under wliich article, the propriety and impropriety of blood- 

 letting will be fully confidered, with remarks on the prac- 

 tice of Ferreluis, Botallus, Sydenham, Pi-ingle, and other 

 celebrated phyiicians, who pulhed this remedy to an extra- 

 vagant length. 



Although ^^'nifz-fl/bleeding be only admiffible under the con- 

 ditionsabove mentioned, yet /t/.Wbleeding may befometimes 

 employed with good effedl in cafes of partial inflammatiori, 

 exifting in Rates of the body where vigour in the fyftem at 

 large is wanting ; efpecialiy when the veffch; belonging to fome 

 organ elTential to life, are obftrufted, overloaded, or inflamed. 



Bleeding v/as formerly employed for the purpofe of pre- 

 •Denting plethoric and inflammatory conditions of the body. 

 Her.ce many of the old v.'riters recommend it to perfons in 

 health both in fpring and autumn, to pregnant women, S:c.; 

 but th.ii praftice is very properly difeontinued, and other 

 modes of counteracting a tendency to over-repletion are 

 adopted in its place ; fuch as a vegetable diet, regular exer- 

 cife, occalional purging, and the hke. 



BlesdinGj 





