Wherefore we must tie a narrow band around some muscular part of the arm, and having by friction of the hands upon one another produced the necessary fulness of the vein, we divide it transversely, but only along its breadth; for larger incisions than this are difficult to heal, whilst those which are very narrow occasion inflammations by obstructing the passage of the thicker fluids. When we expect to have to abstract blood again on the second, third, and sometimes the fourth day, we must divide the vein more obliquely, in order that by bending the arm the incision may be kept open and not heal speedily. Such is the opinion of Antyllus. The quantity of the evacuation must be determined by the strength of the patient and the magnitude of the disease. When, therefore, there is a humeral plethora, and the matter is in a state of inflammation, we are to make our evacuations to deliquium animi, provided the strength be firm, and the patient does not swoon from an overflow of the humour upon the stomach. Wherefore many at the commencement fall into deliquium animi before a sufficient evacuation has taken place, and, therefore, the deliquium must be judged of from the measure of the evacuation. If there is a necessity for much evacuation, and the strength is weak, we must husband the evacuation, and making the first abstraction in small quantity, bleed again, or even a third time, if required. We have recourse to general evacuation not only when the body is in a plethoric state (as Galen says), but on account of the magnitude of the affection, when the general system is in a moderate state with regard to the humours, as we do also in hemorrhage from the nose or elsewhere, when although the discharge do not proceed from plethora, we bleed from the opposite parts in order to produce revulsion; and so also in violent inflammations, as in colics and affections of the kidneys from calculi, ophthalmies, and other such acute and urgent attacks; for the heat and pain of the inflamed parts occasion a defluxion upon it, although the general system be free from superfluities. In such cases we must bleed more sparingly, proportioning the evacuation particularly to the age and constitution of the patient, and also taking into account the season, country, and habits of the person affected. When there is a strong inflammation near the vein which is opened, as in pleurisy and hepatitis, it will be most proper to wait the change of the blood in colour and consistence. Blood in inflammation is different from the natural, since being excessively heated, if it was formerly crude, it becomes ruddier and brighter; or if it was such before, it turns black from being over-heated. Yet we must not in every case wait for the change, but sometimes give over before this takes place; for two reasons, either from the weakness of the patient’s powers, which you may ascertain to have sunk by feeling the pulse (for you will find it either unequal as