666 PltKSKNT STATK OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
Popular Errors connected with our Profession. 
No. I. Bleeding. 
Among the many remedial measures adopted for the relief 
of diseased animals, none, l am persuaded, have been so much 
abused as that of bleeding. It has been looked upon too much 
in the light of a manual operation. Every one has thought him- 
self capable of performing it. But this v ould be but a trifling 
evil if the necessity for doing it were left to the judgment of the 
well-informed. The operation is, in itself, simple enough; but 
the life or death of the animal oftentimes hinges upon the result. 
I wish in this paper to expose the popular fallacy of bleeding, as 
is too much the case now, at all times and on all occasions I 
have never yet, in the whole course of my practice, seen any dis- 
ease, or any stage of a disease, in which I have not been, at one 
time or other, importuned to bleed, or where it has not been done 
lor me. So strong has the current of popular opinion run in that 
direction, that a veterinary surgeon had better kill ten horses by 
bleeding than suffer one to die (no matter for what reason) with- 
out bleeding. 1 very rarely indeed, especially away from home, 
get a chance of bleeding at all ; it is most commonly done (right 
or wrong) before I am sent for. 
If we were to take a proper view of the nature of the operation — 
the abstraction of a portion of the vital fluid from the body of the 
animal, which we cannot readily supply if overdrawn, a fluid which 
is essential to the performance of every function in the animal 
economy, and from which all waste and repairs are supplied — we 
should pause oftener than we do before performing this most im- 
portant operation. I am firmly convinced that, even in inflam- 
matory complaints, thousands of horses have been destroyed 
from too copious bleeding, that might otherwise have recovered 
from the effects of the disease. Among the best informed prac- 
titioners of my acquaintance the rage for repeated bleedings has 
long been over. In an extensive and successful practice, I 
have very rarely indeed bled twice for any one case of whatever 
kind , and never thrice for many years ; and I attribute my suc- 
cess, principally, to the extreme caution I have adopted in the 
use of the lancet. I never bleed at all in a doubtful chance of 
success from the operation. I will be well assured that venesec- 
tion is perfectly indicated before I open a vein. 
I am extremely happy to hear that the public does read The 
Veterinarian ; I heartily wish that every proprietor of horses 
and cattle did so. Allow me to address one word to them on the 
extreme absurdity of the general practice adopted, of bleeding 
before sending for a veterinary surgeon. Supposing that the case 
