The same theories and practices that prevailed for human medicine were
applied to the treatment of animals. Not only were horses routinely bled,
they were also cupped and leeched.[195] Manuals of veterinary medicine
gave instructions for the bleeding of horses, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, and
cats.[196]
There was one major difference between bleeding a man and bleeding a horse
or cow, and that was the amount of strength required to open a vein. The
considerable force needed to pierce the skin and the tunic of the blood
vessel made the operation much more difficult to perform than human
phlebotomy.[197] As in the case of cupping, the simplest instruments,
those most often recommended by experts, were not easy to use by those
without experience. Although a larger version of the thumb lancet was
sometimes employed, most veterinarians opened the vein of a horse with a
fleam, that is, an instrument in which the blade (commonly double beveled)
was set at right angles to the blade stem. These are enlarged versions of
the fleam employed in human bloodletting. The fleams sold in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries consisted of one or more blades that
folded out of a fitted brass shield. In the late nineteenth century fleams
with horn shields were also sold. The largest blades were to be used to
open the deeper veins and the smaller blades to open the more superficial
veins.
To force the fleam into the vein, one employed a bloodstick, a stick 35-38
cm long and 2 cm in diameter. The blade was held against the vein and a
blow was given to the back of the blade with the stick in such a way that
the fleam penetrated but did not go through the vein. Immediately the
fleam was removed and a jet of blood came forth that was caught and
measured in a container. When enough blood had been collected, a needle
would be placed in the vein to stop the bleeding.
Horses were most frequently bled from the jugular vein in the neck, but
also from veins in the thigh, the fold at the junction of breast and
forelegs, the spur, the foreleg, the palate, and the toe.
Since applying the bloodstick required a degree of skill, the Germans
attempted to eliminate its use by adapting the spring lancet to veterinary
medicine. The common veterinary spring lancet (which sometimes was also
called a "fleam" or "phleme") was nothing but an oversized version of the
brass, nob end spring lancet used on humans. Sometimes the lancet was
provided with a blade guard that served to regulate the amount of blade
that penetrated the skin. Although the veterinary spring lancet was quite
popular in some quarters, the French preferred the simple foldout fleam as
a more convenient instrument.[198] (Figure 22.)
[Illustration: FIGURE 22.--Knob end spring lancet used on humans compared
to a knob end lancet used on horses and cattle. Note the blade guard on
the veterinary spring lancet. (NMHT 302606.09 and NMHT 218383 [M-9256]: SI
photo 76-7757.)]
In contrast to the few attempts made to modify the human spring lancet,
there were a large number of attempts to modify the veterinary spring
lancets. Veterinary spring lancets can be found with a wide assortment of
shapes and a wide variety of spring mechanisms. In the enlarged knob end
spring lancet, pushing upon the lever release simply sent the blade
forward into the skin. By a more complex mechanism, the blade could be
made to return after it was injected, or the blade could be made to sweep
out a curve as do the blades of the scarificator. Perhaps one of the
earliest attempts to introduce a more complex internal mechanism into the
veterinary spring lancets is found in John Weiss's "patent horse phlemes"
of 1828. The first model invented by Weiss was constructed on the
principle of the common fleam and bloodstick. As in the knob end spring
lancet, the spring acted as a hammer to drive the blade forward. In a
second improved "horse phleme," Weiss mounted the blade on a pivot so that
the blade swept out a semicircle when the spring was released.[199]
The Smithsonian collection contains a number of different types of
veterinary spring lancets. Perhaps this variety can best be illustrated by
looking at the two patent models in the collection. The first is an
oval-shaped lancet patented in 1849 by Joseph Ives of Bristol,
Connecticut.[200] By using a wheel and axle mechanism, Ives had the blade
sweep out an eccentric curve. The lancet was set by a detachable key
(Figure 23).
The second patent lancet was even more singular in appearance, having the
shape of a gun. This instrument, patented by Hermann Reinhold and August
Schreiber of Davenport, Iowa, in 1880, featured a cocking lever that
extended to form a coiled spring in the handle portion of the gun. Also
attached to the cocking lever was an extended blade with ratchet catches,
so that by pulling on the cocking lever, the blade was brought inside the
casing and the spring placed under tension. Pushing upon the trigger then
shot the blade into the vein.[201] (Figure 24.)