THE PULSE. 1()9 



then the circulation, probably, will be a little disturbed. 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 description. 

 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, bu' 

 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 greatei 

 and more sudden. Then we have the hai'd 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 contracts before the ventricle is properly 

 filled. The practitioner knows that this indicates a dangerous 

 state of disease. It is an almost invariable accompaniment of 

 inflammation of the bowels. 



A iveak pulse, when the arterial stream flows slowly, is 

 caused by the feeble action of the heart. It is the reverse 

 of fever, 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 com- 

 municate pulsation to the current. It 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 re- 

 mainder is able to flow on. 



The state of the pulse should be carefully regarded during 

 bleeding. The most experienced practitioner cannot tell what 

 quantity of blood must be abstracted in order to produce the 

 desired eflect. The change of the pulse can alone indicate when 

 the object is accomplished ; therefore, the operator should have 

 his finger on the artery during the act of bleeding, and, compara- 

 tively regardless of the quantity, continue to take blood, until, 

 in inflammation of the lungs, the oppressed pulse becomes fuller 

 and more distinct, or the strong pulse of considerable fever is 

 evidently softer, or the animal exliibits symptoms of faintness 

 [See Bleeding.]* 



* Note hy Mr. Spooner.—Ihe frequency of the pulse is certainly over 

 rated in tlie text. There is not that difference in the pulsation of the cart- 



