i6o Veterinary Medicine. 



rib ; this diminishes to the ninth, behind which it is usually 

 replaced by a dullness due to the presence of food in the anterior 

 part of the paunch. By drawing back the limb percussion may 

 bs employed over the first and second ribs as well. 



In the lower third the first two ribs can be examined and 

 a clear sound should be educed. On the fourth, fifth and sixth 

 ribs there is a full resonance, the heart being here covered 

 by lung tissue, contrary to the condition in the horse. From the 

 seventh the sound becomes duller and the dead sound from the 

 food in the rumen characterizes the lower fourth of the ninth rib. 



Right side. From the shoulder the resonance gradually de- 

 creases in the upper third to the eleventh rib, beyond which the 

 sounds obtained are only from abdominal organs. In the middle 

 third considerable resonance is met with over the first and second 

 ribs, it is very full and clear over the fifth, sixth and seventh, 

 whence it decreases and is quite lost behind the tenth. In the 

 lower third a clear sound can be elicited over the first, second, 

 fourth, fifth and sixth ribs ; this is lessened over the seventh and 

 eighth, and completely lost behind the ninth. Any but the 

 slightest blows over these three last ribs brings out the dull, solid 

 sound from the liver. 



A very full paunch greatly increases the anterior convexity of 

 the diaphragm, and compresses the lungs into the anterior part of 

 the chest. If the contents of the rumen are solid the resulting 

 dullness on percussion might be mistakenly supposed to indicate 

 consolidation of the lung. This source of error must be care- 

 fully guarded against. 



Sheep. Percussion in the sheep differs from that in the ox 

 chiefly in the following particulars : The diaphragm being at- 

 tached to the last rib as in the horse, the diminishing resonance 

 of the lung may be traced as far back as in that animal. Thus a 

 pulmonary sound can be obtained in the upper third as far as the 

 last intercostal space, in the middle as far as the second last, and 

 ill the lower as far as the fourth from the last. Over the lower 

 part of the fifth and sixth ribs on the left side the resonance is 

 remarkably clear owing to the great relative thickness of the 

 anterior loba of the left lung which here covers the heart. 



Pigs. In fat pigs the results are almost negative. In lean 

 animals the middle third on each side gives out a clear resonance 



