NONCONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF EESPIRATION ORGANS. 89 



pleurisy ; fluid in the chest cavity, as in hydrothorax ; adhesions be- 

 tween the kings and chest walls ; compression of the lungs or loss of 

 elasticity; excess of carbon dioxid in the blood; weakness of the 

 respiratory passages; tumors of the nose and paralysis of the throat; 

 swellings of the throat; foreign bodies and constriction of the air 

 passages leading to the lungs; fevers, etc. 



As already alluded to it is only the careful and constant examina- 

 tion of animals in health that will enable one properly to appreciate 

 abnormal conditions. One must become familiar with the frequency 

 and character of the pulse and of the respirations, must know the 

 temperature of the animal in health, before changes in abnormal con- 

 ditions can be properly appreciated. 



Temper attire. — The temperature should l)e taken in all cases of 

 sickness. Experienced practitioners can approximate the patient's 

 temperature with remarkable accuracy, but I would strongly recom- 

 mend the use of the self -registering clinical thermometer, which is a 

 most valuable instrument in diagnosing diseases. (See PI. Ill, fig. 

 1.) It is advisable that a tested instrument be procured, as some 

 thermometers in the market are inaccurate and misleading. The 

 proper place to insert the thermometer is in the rectum. The instru- 

 ment should be rested against the walls of the cavity for about three 

 minutes. The normal temperature of the bovine is 101° to 102° F., 

 which is higher than that of the horse. A cow breathes faster, her 

 heart beats faster, and her internal temperature is higher than that 

 of the horse. Ordinary physiological influences — such as exercise, 

 digestion, etc. — give rise to slight variations of intenial temperature; 

 but if the temperature rises two or three degrees above the standard 

 some diseased condition is indicated. 



Pulse. — The pulse in a grown animal of the bovine species in a 

 state of good health beats from 45 to 55 times per minute. Exercise, 

 fright, fear, excitement, overfeeding, pregnancy, and other phys- 

 iological conditions, as well as disease, may affect the frequency and 

 character of the pulse. It assumes various character according to 

 its rapidity of beat, frequency of occurrence, resistance to pressure, 

 regularity, and perceptibility. Thus we have the quick and slow, 

 frequent and infrequent, hard and soft, full and imperceptible, large 

 and small pulses, the characters of which may be determined from 

 their names; also that form known as the intermittent, either regular 

 or irregular. We may have a dicrotic, or double pulse; a thready 

 pulse, which is extremely small and scarcely perceptible ; the venous, 

 or jugular, pulse; the '' running down '' pulse, and so on. (See p. 74.) 



In cattle the pulse is conveniently felt over the submaxillary artery 

 where it winds around the lower jawbone, just at the lower edge of 

 the flat muscle on the side of the cheek. If the cow- is lying down the 

 pulse may be taken from the metacarpal artery on the back part of 



