124 OF THE PULSE. 



internal absorption ; for by offering an impediment to the 

 circulation ; removing the contents of the intestinal canal ; 

 and increasing the urinary secretion ; an absence is caused 

 in the materials for building up, which the absorbents 

 endeavour to repair by removing other parts. 



OF THE PULSE. * 



The momentary increase of capacity in the artery, 

 whereby its diameter is enlarged, is called its pulse ; and 

 the more or less frequent are these dilatations, so is the pulse 

 quicker or slower. The circulation of the blood in animals 

 being usually in the contrary ratio to their bulk, i. e. it is 

 tardy in the large, and quick in the small, has given to 

 every kind of standard pulse. Thus, between the largest 

 horse and the smallest pony, there is a difference of from 

 six to eight beats in a minute ; the greater number of course 

 being in the more diminutive animal. In the adult horse it 

 may be stated to range between thirty-six and forty ; in the 

 colt it will be found sixty at birth ; but it gradually decreases 

 as the animal attains the adult standard. This variation 

 between the young and adult pulse is, however, less de- 

 pendent on their relative sizes, than on w^eakness of the 

 system, and the greater irritability at the early period. 



There are also other causes of individual variation in the 

 pulse of horses of the same size. The constitutional pecu- 

 liarities of some animals occasion a departure from the usual 

 standard pulse : in the irritable horse it is commonly five 

 or six more per minute than in the mild one : and in some 

 blood animals this is peculiarly the case. A low bred 

 sluggish horse is commonly below the standard of his size. 

 In stabled horses the pulsations are always more frequent 

 than in those abroad ; and it is accelerated in a degree 

 corresponding with the heat of their dwelling ; the nature of 

 their clothing ; and the stimulating properties of their food. 

 Desire, impatience, and fear, all raise the pulse. 



The pulse is important, as it affords us our best criterion 

 of the state of the system. The pulse affords us a ready 

 indication of a quickened or a tardy state of the circulation ; 

 but w^ere our information to stop here, it would be limited 

 indeed ; and the pulse w^ould then prove but an indifferent 

 guide. There are various conditions of the pulse besides 



