; pear 
448 
mer for reducing excessive heats and preventing 
serious fevers. Some farriers, by way of averting 
disease, and maintaining an easy and healthful cir- 
culation, draw off a small quantity of blood, not 
much or at all exceeding a pint, three or four 
times a-year. But frequent bleeding creates a 
plethoric habit, and cannot without great danger 
be discontinued, and sometimes issues in a mis- 
chievous diminution of the animal’s strength, or 
an almost ruinous irritation of the particular 
veins which are opened. The cases however 
which most require bleeding in horses, are colds, 
fevers of almost all kinds, falls, severe bruises, 
wands of the eyes, strains in hard riding or draw- 
ing, and all other accidents where a stagnation 
of the blood may be suddenly expected, or where 
the small vessels may be broken and the blood 
extravasated. Those horses which refuse their 
food after riding or any sort of work, require to 
be bled more frequently than others, to prevent 
fevers and inward inflammations of the lungs, 
the liver, or any of the principal viscera. Horses 
just recovered from purging at grass, and begin- 
ning to gather flesh, or horses upon any unusual 
pasture, and contracting a heavy appearance 
about the eyes, sometimes require to be bled. 
When any epidemic appears among horses, the 
bleeding of the sound animals may possibly act 
as a preventative; and if the epidemic continue 
for a considerable time, the bleeding, in very 
moderate quantity, may be repeated; yet a much 
safer and more rational preventative of contagion 
is the prompt and continued separation of the 
| uninfected animals from the infected. 
Local bleeding is the letting of blood for the 
relief of some one part of the body ; general 
bleeding is the letting of blood for the relief of 
the whole system ; and the former, as its name im- 
plies, draws off blood from the small vessels of the 
part, while the latter draws it off from a great 
or leading vein. An opinion was formerly enter- 
tained that general bleeding was more effective 
from certain great veins than from others; but 
this opinion is now quite laid aside. The most 
convenient are the veins of the neck, of the arm, 
or of the thigh,—particularly the first; yet other 
great veins are altogether as suitable. In all 
diseases of the head, and in all fevers and general 
inflammations, the jugular vein is peculiarly 
fit, at once from its situation, its size, and the 
facility with which it can be cut. In local in- 
flammations, any of the adjacent superficial veins 
will suit. In diseases of the hinder extremity, 
the saphoena or thigh vein is the best. In affec- 
tions of the shoulder or of the fore-leg, the plate 
or arm vein is preferable. In diseases of the 
foot, the coronet but especially the toe is suitable. 
Various kinds of lancets and phlemes are used 
for performing the operation; but in all ordinary 
bleeding of horses or cattle, the common phleme 
is the safest instrument, the most effective, and 
the most easily used. It is more certain than 
the lancet in the extent of the wound which it 
Wks 
BLEEDING. 
makes; and it can be applied with far less risk 
of accident or mismanagement; for it needs only 
to be placed with its star fairly upon the part of 
the vein to be cut, and to be smartly struck 
directly above the star with a blood-stick or piece 
of wood. 'Thesize of the star insures a sufficient 
opening; and the blunted part or blade of the 
phleme prevents it from going too deep. The 
spring phleme is not so facile in operation as the 
common one, and ought never to be used by an 
inexperienced operator. The lancet, in the hands 
of a novice, is not a little dangerous; and, even 
in the hands of a skilful operator, cannot be re- 
gulated with precision. The resistance of the 
integuments, the restlessness of the animal, and 
the depth of thrust requisite to make a proper 
incision, all endanger the success of the operation; 
and very experienced veterinary surgeons have 
been known, when using the lancet, to wound 
the carotid artery. In bleeding sheep, dogs, and 
small cattle, however, the lancet is the most 
handy instrument. 
A horse about to be bled is blindfolded on the 
side on which the operation is to be performed, 
or his head is turned and held wellaway. ‘The 
operator smooths the hair along the course of the 
vein, and makes sufficient pressure on the vein 
below the point of the intended wound to arrest 
the flow of the blood, and make the vein rise 
distinctly into view, but not enough to give it a 
thoroughly swelled and rounded surface. He 
places the phleme in a line with the course of 
the vein, with the star close to the vein and di-. 
rectly over its centre; he strikes the phleme 
smartly but not very strongly with a piece of 
wood called the blood-stick; and should he un- 
happily miss his mark or fail to make a fair in- 
cision, he repeats the stroke, taking care to 
place the star of the phleme in the external 
opening, and in such a direction as to be exactly 
on the centre of the vein. The pressure upon 
the part of the vein below the wound must be 
continued till a sufficient quantity of blood is 
taken; for on the pressure being removed, the 
blood will cease to flow. The blood ought to be 
received into a vessel of known dimensions, or, 
what is better, into a graduated vessel containing 
marks for every half pint of its capacity, so that 
the operator may readily observe at any moment 
the quantity of blood which has been abstracted. 
The operator ought also to make the blood fall in 
a regular stream into the centre of the vessel, 
and not allow it to trickle down the sides, so 
that it may regularly undergo the changes which 
indicate the degree of existing inflammation, and 
the proper time to stop the bleeding; yet he 
ought to base the chief weight of his opinion on | 
the state of the pulse, and on the collective symp- 
toms. 
“The blood,” says White, “should always be pre- 
served, that the quantity drawn may be accurately 
known, and that its quality may be ascertained. 
If, after it has coagulated, a white or rather a 
