Symptoms of Diseases, 79 



4. Signs of Diseases of the Heart. 



These are indicated by violent convulsive beating of the 

 heart, easily perceived by the hand placed behind the left 

 elbow; by a jerking, intermittent, unequal and irregular 

 pulse; by habitually cold ears and legs; by swelling of the 

 legs and the belly ; by difficult breathing, much increased 

 by slight exertion ; and by general sluggishness and a ten- 

 dency to lay on fat. If on carefully listening to the sound 

 of the heart, it is fomid to give forth sounds different from 

 those usual in healthy animals (with which, as we have said, 

 the student must make himself thoroughly familiar), then 

 there need be no further hesitation in pronouncing the pre- 

 sence of heart disease. 



5. Signs of Diseases of the Kidneys, Bladder and Sex Organs. 



Profuse staleing, usually accompanied with excessive thirst, 

 is a symptom of diabetes, a very serious disease. Bloody 

 urine, "red water", and "black water'', may signify a 

 mechanical injury to the bladder, inflammation of the kid- 

 neys, kidney w^orms, stone in the bladder, or in cattle, one 

 of those very dangerous diseases called murrains. When 

 the urine cannot be passed, it may be from a stone or a stric- 

 ture; it also occurs in spinal meningitis in horses. 



Carrying and bearing the young, and the various diseases 

 to which the female is liable, at and after this period, are all 

 of obvious symptoms. This class of maladies has a pecu- 

 liar importance to the stock breeder, as it has been again and 

 again demonstrated that the higher the breed and the more 

 refined the Jblood — that is, the more costly the animal — the 

 more is it liable to numerous and grave interferences with 

 these acts of reproduction. 



