avery's own farrier. 89 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE PULSE, INFLAMMATION AND BLEEDING. 



The vessels which carry the blood from the heart, are 

 called arteries; and the vessels that convey the blood 

 back again, after it has been carried to the different parts 

 of the body by the arteries, are called veins. The yield- 

 ing of the artery to the gush of blood forced into it by 

 the contraction of the heart, constitutes the pulse. It 

 is a very useful assistant in determining the nature and 

 violence of disease; and in order to be benefited by its 

 motion in disease, it is necessary to know how often it 

 beats in health. The number of pulsations in any artery 

 will give the number of beatings of the heart, and thereby 

 denote the irritation of that organ, and the system gene- 

 rally. A common sized horse when in health, pulsates 

 from thirty-six to thirty-eight in a minute; and smaller 

 ones forty and over per minute. This is considered to 

 be the standard pulse of the horse. When it does not 

 beat much oftener than this, there can not be anything 

 very serious to contend with in the form of inflammation 

 or fever. 



The number of beatings may be ascertained by hold- 

 ing the hand on the side, or on the plate vein; but this 

 is not all we would like to know; in order to ascertain 

 the quantity of blood, and the manner in which it flows 

 through the vein, which is very essential, we must press 

 the artery against some hard substance. The most con- 

 venient place to feel the pulse for this purpose, is at the 

 lower jaw, a little behind the spot where the submaxil- 



