90 avery's own farrier. 



lary artery and vein, and the parotid duet comes from 

 the under jaw. There the number of pulsations can be 

 easily counted, and the character of the pulse, a matter 

 of equal importance, be clearly ascertained. When the 

 pulse beats from fifty to fifty-five, there is considerable 

 fever; and when it reaches from seventy to eighty, it in- 

 dicates a dangerous state of affairs. Few horses long 

 survive a pulse of one hundred; for, by this excessive 

 action, the energies of nature are speedily worn out. A 

 quick pulse indicates irritation and fever; a slow pulse 

 accompanies every malady connected with a difficulty of 

 nervous energy. The heart may not only be excited to 

 more frequent, but also to more violent actions; then we 

 have the hard pulse, the sure indicator of considerable 

 fever, which warrants the immediate use of the lancet. 

 Sometimes the pulse may be hard and jerking, and yet 

 small; the stream, though forcible, is not great; the heart 

 is so irritable that it contracts before the ventricle is pro- 

 perly filled; this indicates a dangerous state of disease; 

 it generally accompanies inflammation of the bowels, 

 &c. A weak pulse denotes a feeble action of the heart, 

 and is expressive of great debility, w^hen the horse should 

 not be bled on any account. The oppressed pulse is 

 when the arteries seem to be fully distended with blood, 

 without that distinct pulsation as in health. There is 

 obstruction somew^here, and the heart can hardly force 

 the stream along, or communicate pulsation to the cur- 

 rent. This is the case in sudden inflammation of the 

 lungs; they are overloaded and gorged with blood, which 

 can not find its way through their minute vessels. This 

 accounts for copious bleeding being so beneficial in this 



