308 BOVINE PATHOLOGY. 



region the only difference is that the sound is more feeble 

 over the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs. In the inferior region 

 a feeble respiratory murmur is heard over the fourth rib ; 

 this increases over the fifth and sixth, and then decreases 

 as far as the eighth or ninth ■'^ (Gamgee). Delafond warns 

 us against misinterpreting the crepitating sound, which 

 results from the looseness of the areolar tissue beneath 

 the skin of the chest of the ox. And Gamgee suggests 

 that useful information may be gained by auscultating the 

 chest of the ox from below through the sternum, since so 

 much of the lung is inferiorly placed. 



Peecussion. — Applying blows to the surfaco in a special 

 manner, we have already seen, is useful in diagnosis of 

 tympany. It is direct or indirect. In the former case 

 the ends of the fingers brought together are sharply 

 applied to a part, generally to the skin rendered tense 

 over a bone, as a rib, or the nasals. It is possible to de- 

 termine, from the resulting sound, whether the cavity 

 within is empty or blocked up by some material of a solid 

 or liquid nature. The healthy resonance of the chest is 

 very characteristic, and is most marked over the course of 

 the bronchi and larger bronchial tubes. Dulness on per- 

 cussion indicates consolidation or accumulation of fluid in 

 the pleural sac. 



Percussion of the Chest of the Ox, " Left side.— The 



superior region is very resonant over the eighth, ninth, 

 and tenth ribs. If it be struck very gently between the 

 latter and the twelfth rib, the diminished resonance of 

 the posterior border of the lung may still be brought 

 out, though, if struck at all forcibly in this region, a 

 tympanic sound is produced, due to gas in the rumen. 

 The median region is very resonant over the fifth, 

 sixth, and seventh ribs, much less so ov^r the eighth 

 and ninth, and quite dull over the lower third of the 

 tenth and half the eleventh ; this dulness proceeds from 

 the abdominal organs. The lower region, unlike in 

 the horse, shows considerable resonance over the fourth, 

 fifth, and sixth ribs, from this part lying over the anterior 

 lobes of the right and left lungs, which almost completely 



