THE ARTERIES ^PULSE. 



THE ARTERIES. 



The vessels which carry the blood from the heart are called 

 arteries. The yielding of the artery to the gush of blood, forced 

 into it by the contraction of the heart, constitutes 



THE PULSE. 



The pulse is a very useful assistant to the practitioner of 

 human medicine, and much more so to the veterinary surgeon, 

 whose patients cannot describe either the seat or degree of ail- 

 ment or pain. The number of pulsations m any artery will 

 give the number of the beatings of the heart, and so express the 

 irritation of that organ, and of the frame generally. In a state 

 of health, the heart beats in a farmer's horse about thirty-six 

 times a minute. In the smaller, and in the thorough-bred horse, 

 the pulsations aire forty or forty-two. This is said to be the 

 standard pulse — the pulse of health. It varies singularly little 

 in horses of the same size and breed, and where it beats natu- 

 rally there can be little materially wrong. The most convenient 

 place to feel the pulse, is at the lower jaw (Fig. 1) a little 

 behind the spot where the submaxillary artery and vein, and 

 ^he parotid duct, come fromi 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 ascer- 

 tained. 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 thtj 

 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 dangerous state, and put 

 the owiier 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 form- 

 ing our conclusion from the frequency of the pulse. Exercise, a 

 warm stable, and fear, will wonderfully increase the number of 

 pulsations. 



When a careless, brutal fellow goes up to a horse, and speak? 

 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 animal. A judicious person wiD 

 approach the patient gently, and pat and soothe him, and even 



