340 GENERAL DISTURBANCE OF THE CIRCULATION. 



ing the state of a patient, can only be ascertained from the 

 arterial system. Thus, in a case of extreme debility, in the 

 so-called bloodless or anaemic state, the heart contracts with 

 great force, its impulse is violent, whereas the pulse at a dis- 

 tance is almost and perhaps quite imperceptible. 



In the horse, the pulse is usually felt at the jaw; the sub- 

 inaxillary artery passes along the inside of the latter to the 

 part where the thick cheek muscle is felt, and here it turns 

 round the lower margin of the bone to be distributed on the 

 side of the face. By placing the thumb obliquely on the lower 

 and fore-part of the cheek, and passing the fore and middle 

 fingers on the inside of the jaw, a rolling cord is felt, which, 

 if slightly pressed upon, is found to pulsate. The number 

 and character of pulsations may be well felt there. But the 

 horse is apt to move his jaws, and may be masticating. It 

 is then necessary to select another artery, such as the 

 brachial, which is felt on the inside of the elbow joint, from 

 the front. The temporal artery felt near the articulation 01 

 the jaw is also favourably exposed for the purpose. The 

 metatarsal artery, below and inside the hock, and the plantar 

 arteries, are felt in local disease, to determine the existence of 

 throbbing, &c. 



In the ox, the pulse is also felt from the facial artery and 

 the brachial. The latter is more easily touched in this animal 

 than in the horse. It will be often found that a cow will be 

 most quiet, if the person desiring to feel the pulse will walk 

 up to the near side, and put his arm over the neck to feel the 

 right facial artery. The left hand may be used to steady the 

 head by holding one of the horns. 



When a cow is lying, it is frequently convenient to feel the 

 pulse from the metacarpal arteries, just in a line with the cleft 

 of the fore-feet, and over the fetlock. The right or left leg 

 will always be found projecting outwards, and exposed most 



