Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 8, ELE-FOR

II
Part III. FARR
I rations. of blood fhould be apprehended, this may be effe&ual-
ly prevented by completely dividing the artery.
! 165 General bleeding is one of the moft efficacious re-
Ipafesre* medies in moft of the acute difeafes to which horfes
W and cattle are fubjeft. “ When a horfe appears dull and
ilee “'o- jieaVy^ ^fays Mr White), and indifferent about his
food, by bleeding we often prevent a fever. If a horfe
is bled at the commencement of a cold, the complaint
generally proves moderate, and of (hort continuance.
In all cafes of internal inflammation, or fymptomatic
fever, bleeding is the molt effential remedy, provided
the operation be performed at an early period, and the
blood drawn in fufficient quantity. In fuch cafes I
have often taken away five quarts, and repeated the
operation the following day, when it appeared necef-
fary. By bleeding copioufly at firft, thefe formidable
difeafes are crulhed at once ; while by fuffering them
to proceed, or become at all violent, which they will
* White's ^ unlefs this pradlice is adopted (or if only a fmall
Materia ntity Df blood is drawn) they generally prove fatal j
^ VeT nor will bleeding then be of any fervice
Cautions. Mr Clark very juftly remarks, “ that although the
cafes which may require bleeding are numerous, yet
there is one general caution to be obferved, viz. never
to take away blood but when it is abfolutely neceffary j
as it is a fluid that may be eafily taken away, but can¬
not be fo eafily replaced j befides, that the pra&ice of
bleeding frequently, or at Hated times, is exceedingly .
improper, as it difpofes the body to become lax, weak,
and plethoric.
“ In bleeding, therefore, a due regard mufl always
be had to the conftitution, age, ftrength, &c. of
horfes, and the ftate or habit of body they are in at
the time.
“ It is commonly faid that the taking away a little
blood from horfes, even when they are in health, or
when they are in the leafl: indifpofed, will do no harm :
this in one fenfe may be allowed to be literally true j
but why draw blood from them on every trifling oc¬
casion, unlefs there may be fuch fymptoms attending
as may require it ? I have obferved in many horfes
who have been, very frequently blooded, and which
may be eafily known, from the cicatrices or marks on
the neck veins, that their blood had loft much of its
tenacity, together with a confiderable portion oj. its
florid and red colour. Butchers who daughter calves,
may find their account in bleeding them frequently, as
it renders their flefti white, by taking away the red
particles of the blood. But in horfes it is quite other-
wile } as they are deftined for hard labour and a£Irve
exercifes, it impairs their conftitutions, fubjefts them
to difeafe, and haftens a premature old age.
“ As the blood of horfes, more especially thofe who
are conftantly employed in hard labour, or in aftive
exercifes, when drawn from a vein, appears of a dark-
ilh or deep red colour, even in the higheft ftate of
health, it is commonly faid to be bad blood, and more
fo, when a thick yellow or buff-coloured cruft forms on
the furface after it is cold j hence thefe appearances
are faid to require repetition of bleeding ; lor it very
unluckily happens, that moft of the difeafes to which
horfes are fubjeft are thought to proceed from feme im-
i Clark purities or humours, as they are called,, in the blood,
ingbifeafes which require to be drained off by bleeding, and other
in Horfes. evacuations f.”
! E R V. 453
Topical bleeding is ufeful in feveral cafes, as in in-Operations.
flammatory affeftions of the feet, which are often re-v
lieved by opening the coronary veins, or the vein thatr i67
encircles the coffin-bone j in inflammations of the eyes,
in which blood may be often drawn, from the angular
veins, with confiderable luccefs j and in affedtions of
the mouth, where it is fometimes ufeful to draw blood,
by fcarifying the bars of the mouth, or even, in feme
urgent cafes, by opening the veins of the palate. To¬
pical bleeding is beft performed with a lancet.
Almoft the only method that is pradlifed for bleed¬
ing ftieep, or dogs, is to cut off a joint or two of the
tail ; and this is certainly often produdlive of good con-
fequences, as the flow of blood is fometimes pretty con¬
fiderable. Unfortunately, however, we can feldom have
recourfe to this mode of bleeding more than once or
twice, whereas cafes often occur in which it is necef¬
fary to repeat the bleeding. It is alfo a cruel method,
and we fee no reafon why the veins in thefe animals
may not be opened like thofe of horfes and cattle. In
the ftieep, indeed the thicknefs of the wool will com¬
monly prevent bleeding in the neck, but the temporal
artery and the veins of the foot may be opened without
difficulty j and in moft dogs we may bleed in the ju¬
gular-vein with nearly as much eafe, as in the horfe or .
cow.
Chap. IV. Of making Rowels and Setons.
168
Rowels in horfes and cattle are much the fame as itowelling
iffues in the human body. The operation confifts in defcribed.
opening the fkin, fe as to infert between it and the cel¬
lular membrane feme foreign body, which is kept there,
in order to produce and keep up a fuppuration, or run¬
ning of purulent matter. The operation is ufually per¬
formed in the following manner. An incifion is made
through the Ikin by means of a very ffiarp pair of fcif-
fars, or, what appears better, a ftiarp knife. The finger
is then introduced below7 the fkin, fo as to feparate it
from the flefti all round, as far as the finger will reach.
A piece of leather about the fize of a crown-piece, and
of a circular form, with a hole cut in the middle, is
then inferted between the fkin and the mufeles, having
been firft anointed with feme ftimulating ointment. A
fmall piece of tow or caddice fpread with the fame oint¬
ment, is put over the hole in the centre of the leather 5
the fkin is laid down over all, and the part is covered
with a pledget, alfe covered with ointment, to keep out
the external air.
The leather is left in this fituation for two or three
days, during which the parts adjoining the rowel fwell,
and at the end of the time there appears a difcharge of
a yellowifh matter, which gradually becomes thicker
and whiter. In three days at fartheft the part mult be
examined, and the plug removed from the centre hole,
to allow the matter to flow out. The rowel is now
complete, and may be continued as long as fhall be
found neceffary. The action of the rowel is eafiiy ex¬
plained the leather introduced excites a degree of in¬
flammation between the Ikin and the flefh, and no
means being taken to check this, it goes on, like moft
other inflammations of flefhy parts, to fuppuration.
Thus a difcharge is produced from the part, which is
found to have confiderable effect in checking inflam¬
mation of feme more important organ near which the
rowel ■