68 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



and the two-year-old one and a quarter. It is increased by 

 hot, close buildings, exertion, fear, a nervous temperament, 

 and pregnancy. In large quadrupeds there is a monthly 

 increase of four to five beats per minute after the 6tn 

 month. Independently of such condition, a rapid pulse 

 implies fever, inflammation or debility. 



The pulse may be felt wherever a considerable artery 

 passes over a superficial bone ; thus on the cord felt running 

 across the border of the lower jaw, just in front of its 

 curved portion ; beneath the bony ridge which extends up- 

 ward from the eye ; in horses, inside the elbow ; in cattle, 

 over the middle of the first rib, or under the tail. 



The force of the pulse varies in the different species in 

 health, thus it is full and moderately tense in the horse ; 

 smaller and harder in the ass and mule ; full, soft and roll- 

 ing in the ox ; small and quick in sheep ; firm and hard 

 in swine. In disease it may become more frequent, slow, 

 quick (with sharp impulse), tardy (with slow, rolling 

 movement), full, strong, weak, small (when thread-like but 

 quite distinct), hard (when with jarring sensation), soft 

 (when the opposite), oppressed (when the artery is full and 

 tense, but the impulse jerking and difficult, as if the flow 

 were obstructed), jerking and receding (when with empty, 

 flaccid vessel, it seems to leap forward at each beat), inter- 

 mittent (when a beat is missed at regular intervals), un- 

 equal (when some beats are strong and others weak). Be- 

 sides these a peculiar thrill is usually felt with each beat in 

 very weak, bloodless conditions. 



The jerking, intermittent, unequal and irregular pulses 

 are especially indicative of heart disease. The jerking 

 pulse is associated with disease of the valves at the com- 

 mencement of the great aorta which carries blood from the 

 left side of the heart, and is accompanied by a hissing or 

 sighing noise with the second heart sound. The intermit- 

 tent pulse implies functional derangement of the heart, but 

 not necessarily disease of structure. 



