74 General Principles of Veterinary Medicine, 



given out, by thus -percussing them as it is called, is like that 

 on any other solid part of the animals. Hence this is an- 

 other very important indication of disease. 



By practice on healthy animals, the character and boundaries 

 of these sounds can be learned so closely, that any variation 

 from them will be at once detected, and will sometimes reveal the 

 presence of an unsound condition, when no other means will. 



The rapidity with which the act of breathing is performed 

 can easily be counted by the heaving of the chest. In health, 

 in the adult horse at rest, it is from eight to twelve times a 

 minute, and in the ox a little faster. Any great increase, 

 without obvious cause, is a positive sign of a diseased con- 

 dition. 



THE ANIMAL HEAT. 



The temperature of animals can be ascertained, to a slight 

 extent, by the feel of the skin, the ears, and the legs. A 

 hot, dry skin in a horse generally accompanies a feverish 

 condition. Cold ears and legs are a sign of serious disease. 

 But the only scientific, that is, accurate plan, is to use what is 

 called a " clinical thermometer,^' that is, one, the bulb of 

 which can be bared and inserted into the rectum. After it 

 has remained there two or three minutes, the mercury will 

 accurately indicate the temperature of the blood. This in 

 health is 98°, and any deviation from this, even of a few 

 degrees, is a certain sign of disease. Those veterinarians 

 who have practiced sufficiently with this instrument to become 

 skilled in its use, declare it invaluable in their business, as 

 affording them grounds for opinions about diseases which no 

 other symptoms could. 



Thus it has been found that every disease has its own 

 degree, a temperature at which it is either favorable or fatal. 

 For example, if in that sometimes prevalent epidemic among 

 horses, cerebro-spinal meningitis, the thermometer rises as high 



