The Pulse and Breathing. 73 



full and rather tense, while in the ox, it is soft and rolling. 



When the pulse differs materially from these conditions 

 in any direction, it is a sign of disease. If rapid, full and 

 hard, there is high fever or acute inflammation; if rapid, 

 small and weak, there is low fever, loss of blood or weak- 

 ness. If very slow, we may suspect brain disease; if 

 irregular, now fast and in a few seconds slow, we should 

 look for a diseased condition of the heart. 



In the sheep, the pulse is felt by placing the hand on the 

 left side^ where the beatings of the heart can be felt; or at 

 about the middle of the inside of- the thigh, where the 

 femoral artery passes obliquely across the bone. 



THE BREATHING. 



The Breathing is next in importance. If the ear is ap- 

 plied to the throat of a healthy horse or ox, the air will be 

 heard passing through the windpipe with a regular, steady 

 blowing sound ; if applied to the chest, a soft rustling mur- 

 mur will be heard, like a gentle breeze in the tree tops, 

 caused by the air passing in and out of the fine tubes and 

 vessels of the lungs. But where the lung or throat is 

 diseased, these sounds are very much changed and in many 

 directions, which it is not necessary to dwell on here, but 

 which will at once indicate the presence of something amiss 

 with these important organs. 



If the fore finger of the left hand is placed firmly on the 

 chest and smartly tapped with the ends of the three first 

 fingers of the right hand, the sound will be noticed to be 

 much more resonant and clear than when the same procedure 

 is practiced on the solid thigh. This is because the lungs 

 are not solid, but are always in health well expanded with 

 air. But in various diseases, as pneumonia and pleurisy, 

 they fill up with fluid and become solid, and then the sound 



