332 THE STOCK owner's ADVISER. 



Sympto.ais Afforded by the Pulse. — The pulse is the index 

 to the patient's feelings. No branch of medicine is so important 

 as the stndy of the pnlse, as it indicates the treatment to be 

 adopted. To understand the pulse thoroughly requires long and 

 diligent practice, in which the sense of touch must be trained and 

 cultivated. The normal and abnormal pulse must be taken and 

 its variations noted. It is one of the many never ending studies, 

 but by long practice and study we are enabled to understand the 

 feelings and condition of the patient. 



The pulse is the beating of the arteries, and is usually taken at 

 the jaw — the sub-maxillary artery, or on the inner side of the 

 arm — the brachial artery. In the cow, whilst recumbent, the 

 pulse may be very distinctly felt on the posterior part of the fore 

 fetlock; in the dog, it is best felt at the femoral artery, on the 

 inner surface of the thigh. The jiulsations felt by the finger are 

 principally due to the fact that the artery expands during the 

 contraction of the heart, and returns to its previous condition 

 during the relaxation of the organ. The variation of the normal 

 pulse differs al)out ten beats. The standard is set at forty beats 

 per minute. The normal pulse, therefore, would range from 

 thirty to forty. Cow, forty to fifty; dog, eighty to one hundred, 

 according to size. The pulse of the sheep ranges from seventy 

 to eighty. 



"We speak oi a pulse as being quick when the heart accom- 

 plishes its contraction almost instantaneously; slow when there 

 is a prolonged or slow contraction of the cardiac ventricles; an 

 infrequent pulse, when it is associated with slowness. An inter- 

 mitting pulse is that in which a pulsation is occasionally omitted. 

 The volume of the pulse may be greater than usual, in -which 

 case it is said to be large, or it may be less than usual when it is 

 said to be small. Tlie feeble pulse, if associated with softness, the 

 artery yielding readily to the finger, indicates general or cardiac 

 debility. The small pulse may result in anaema, from congestion 

 of some important organs, as the lungs, or from feeble contrac- 

 lion of the heart. The hard pulse — hardness of the pulse — is the 



