_Local bleeding_ is more extensively applicable than _general_, as it usually effects the same purpose without the permanently weakening effect. It acts in two ways, first, by emptying and contracting the vessels in the skin over the inflamed organ, it solicits a sympathetic contraction of the capillary vessels in that organ itself, and thus inaugurates a progress toward recovery; and second, by so much as it draws blood to the surface it diminishes the blood pressure on the deeper inflamed organ, and affords a better opportunity for the restoration of the healthy circulation and function. Local bleeding may be practiced by simple scarification or leeches, or better, by cupping with or without scarification. To apply leeches, the skin must first be shaved. To cup, it must at least be greased. As a cup, an ordinary large drinking-glass may be used, the air contained in it being driven out by a lighted taper, and then the taper being withdrawn, the mouth of the cup is instantly and accurately applied on the skin and held there, until, as it cools, it draws up the skin within it and clings like a sucker. A number of these may be applied according to the extent of the inflammation, and, if desired, they may be removed, the part scarified, and the cup reapplied. The cupping usually effects more than a mere local attraction of blood; it very commonly causes a free circulation in the whole skin, a generally diffused warmth, and even perspiration. Thus we may secure the derivation of blood from the inflamed part, the cooling of a large mass of blood in the extensive cutaneous circulation, the cooling of the entire system by the return of this blood internally, the elimination of injurious waste matters through the skin, the lowering of the febrile heat and tension, and a better functional activity of all the organs of the body. Similar good results are obtained from all remedies that induce surface warmth and vascularity and a free secretion from the skin.