Ca PULSE, STATE OF-FEELING THR 



culation of the blood, and as I have sat down with the notion that my book 

 will be read straight-an-end at first, let the reader attend a moment while I 

 say a word or two on this preliminary topic. "Without an accurate knowledge 

 of this touch-stone of the main spring of life, no one can form a judgment fit 

 to be acted upon as to when it is necessary to bleed or of the quantity to be 

 taken : thus, in cases of fever, the groom begii. j very properly by bleeding ; 

 but he almost invariably takes too little, or in case of increased action of the 

 pulse, through over exertion of the animal's powers, he bleeds when such a 

 course is detrimental, and almost always administers cordials, thus reducing 

 with one hand, and increasing the action with the other. — See pages 33, et 

 seg. 



When in health, the pulsations or strokes are from thirty-six to forty in a 

 minute; those of large heavy horses being slower than of the smaller; and 

 of old ones, they are also slower than of young animals. When either may 

 bejustoflf a quick pace, the strokes increase in number; as they do if he be 

 alarmed, or terrified, or hear the hounds' familiar cry. Fever, of the simple 

 or common kind, usually increases the pulsations to double the healthy num- 

 ber; hence the propriety of ascertaining the state of this index of health, 

 while the animal is still free from disease, goes to prove over again the pro- 

 priety of my plan of teaching the curative art in animals by closely examin- 

 ing the indications of health, and setting down in one's mind every deviation 

 therefrom as the approach of illness, that ought to be met and combated at 

 the threshold. 



In this vievyr of its utility, why might not the attendant groom, or horse- 

 keeper in more humble establishments, keep a register of the state of every 

 horse's pulse, when it comes first under his care, and renew the same exami- 

 nation at intervals of a week or ten days 1 This practice alone would ren- 

 der him expert in all cases of imminent danger; to say nothing of those 

 other indications, the dungings and the water voided. On this latter point 

 the reader will turn back to what is said of " Urine" in page 53, 53. 



As the fever increases in violence, likewise, when the animal is in great 

 pain from inflammation of the intestines, &c., the pulse beats still higher, and 

 reaches to 100 in a minute, or more. The danger is then great, and less than 

 three or four quarts, drawn from a large orifice, would do harm rather than 

 good, by increasing the action of the blood, and the hardness of the artery 

 would also be increased. To ascertain either state, the attendant should ap- 

 ply the points of his fingers gently to the artery which lies nearest the sur- 

 face. Some prefer consulting the temporal artery, which is situated about 

 an inch and a half backward from the corner of the eye. Others again, and 

 they are the greater number, think it best to feel it underneath the edge of 

 the jaw-bone, where the facial artery passes on under the skin only to the side 

 of the face. In either case, too great pressure would stop the pulsation alto- 

 gether, though by so trying the artery against the jaw bone, will prove whether 

 It be in such a rigid state of excitement as attends high fever; or elastic and 

 springy, slipping readily from under the finger, as it does when health prevails 

 and the strokes follow each other regularly. 



TUe presence of high fever is further indicated by a kind of twang, or vi- 

 oration, given by the pulse against the finger points, resembling much such as 

 would be felt were we to take hold of a distended whipcord or wire between 

 the fingers, and cause it to vibrate like a fiddle-string, sharply ; whereas, in 

 health, a swell is felt in the vibration, as if the string were made of soft ma- 

 terials, and less straightened ; — facts these which owners would do well to as- 

 certain by practising upon the pulse of their own horses. Languid or slow 

 puise, and scarcely perceptible in some of the beats or strokes, indicate low- 

 acss of spirits, debility, or being used up : if this langu<jr s felt at interval* 



