Diseases of the Heart. 199 



and pig 70 to 80; dog 80 to 100; cat 120 to 140; goose 

 110 ; pigeon 136 ; cliicken 140. In old age it may be five 

 less in large quadrupeds and twenty or thirty in small 

 ones. Youth and small size imply a greater rapidity: 

 The new-born foal has a pulse three times as frequent as 

 the horse, the six-months colt double and the two-year 

 old one and a quarter. It is increased by hot, close build- 

 ings, exertion, fear, a nervous temperament and pregnancy. 

 In large quadrupeds there is a monthly increase of four to 

 five beats per minute after the sixth month. Independently 

 of such conditions a rapid pulse impHes fever, inflamma- 

 tion or debility.^ The /orce of the pulse varies in the dif- 

 ferent species in health, thus it is full and moderately tense 

 in the horse ; smaller and harder in the ass and mule ; 

 fuU, soft and rolling in the ox ; small and quick in sheep ; 

 firm and hard in swine ; and firm and with a sharp (quick) 

 beat in dogs and cats. In disease it may become more/re- 

 quent, sloiu, quick (with sharp impulse), tardy (with slow, 

 rolling movement), full, strong, weak, small (when thread- 

 Uke 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)j 

 intermittent (when a beat is missed at regular intervals), 

 unequal (when some beats are strong and others weak), ir- 

 regular (when without any distinct intermission for a pe- 

 riod equal to an entire beat the intervals between success- 

 ive beats vary in length). Beside these a peculiar thrill 

 is usually felt with each beat in very weak, bloodless 

 etates. 



' The pulse may be felt wherever a considerable artery passes over a super- 

 ficial 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 beneath the tail : in dogs in a groove running down the inne 

 side of the thigh. 



