THE PULSE. 173 



where it is fouad there can be little materially wrong. The most conve- 

 nient place to feel the pulse, is at the lower jaw (p. 119), a little behind the 

 spot where the submaxillary artery and vein, and the parotid duct, come 

 from under the jaw. There the number of pulsations will be easily 

 counted, and the character of the pulse, a matter of fully equal importance, 

 will be clearly ascertained. Many horsemen put the hand to the side. 

 They can certainly count the pulse there, but they can do nothing more. 

 We must be able to press the artery against some hard body, as the jaw. 

 bone, in order to ascertain the manner in which the blood flows through 

 it, and the quantity that flows. 



When the pulse reaches fifty or fifty-five, some degree of fever may be 

 apprehended, and proper precaution should be taken. Seventy or seventy- 

 five will indicate a somewhat dangerous state, and put the owner and the 

 surgeon not a little on the alert. Few horses long survive a pulse of one 

 hundred, for by this excessive action the energies of nature are speedily 

 worn out. 



Some things, however, should be taken into account in forming our con- 

 clusion from the frequency of the pulse. Exercise, a warm stable, fear, 

 will wonderfully increase the number of pulsations. 



When a careless, brutal fellow goes up to a horse, and speaks hastily to 

 him, and handles him roughly, he adds ten beats per minute to the pulse ; 

 and will often be misled in the opinion he may form of the state of the ani- 

 mal. A judicious person will approach the patient gently, and pat and 

 sooth him, and even then the circulation, probably, will be a little disturbed ; 

 and he should take the additional precaution of noting the number and 

 quality of the pulse, a second time, before he leaves the animal. 



If a quick pulse indicate irritation and fever, a slow pulse will likewise 

 characterize diseases of an opposite character. It accompanies the sleepy 

 stage of staggers, and every malady connected with deficiency of nervous 

 energy. 



The heart may not only be excited to more frequent, but also to more 

 violent action. It may contract more powerfully upon the blood, which 

 will be driven with greater force through the arteries, and the expansion of 

 the vessels will be greater and moi'e sudden. Then we have the 1iard pulse, 

 the sure indicator of considerable fever, and calling for the immediate and 

 free use of the lancet. 



Sometimes the pulse may be hard and jerking, and yet small. The 

 stream, though forcible, is not great. The heart is so irritable, that it con- 

 tracts before the ventricle is properly filled. The practitioner knows that this 

 shows a dangerous state of disease. It is an almost invariable accompani- 

 ment of inflammation of the bowels. 



A weak pulse, when the arterial stream flows slowly, is caused by the 

 feeble action of the heart. It is the reverse of fevei", and expressive of 

 debility. 



The oppressed pulse is when the arteries seem to be fully distended with 

 blood ; there is obstruction somewhere, and the action of the heart can 

 hardly force the stream along, or communicate pulsation to the current. 

 This is the case in sudden inflammation of the lungs. They are overloaded 

 and gorged with blood, which cannot find its way through their minute 

 vessels. This accounts for the well-known fact of a copious bleeding 

 increasing a pulse previously oppressed. A portion being removed from the 

 distended and choked vessels, the remainder is able to flow on. 



There are many other varieties of the pulse, which it would be tedious 

 oere to particularize, and we will conclude our remarks on it by observing 

 that, during the act of bldfeding, its state should be carefully observed. 



