CATTLE, THE IK DISEASES. 
245 
©r acute inflammation ; if rapid, small and weak there is low fever, los» 
of blood, or weakness. If very slow we may suspect brain disease ; if 
irregular, now fast and in a few seconds slow, we should look for a 
diseased condition of the heart. 
In the sheep, the pulse if felt by placing the hand on the left side, 
•‘‘where the beatings of the heart can be felt ; or at about the middle of 
the inside of the thigh, where the femoral artery passes obliquely across 
the boue. 
x The Breathing. 
The breathing is next in importance. If the ear is applied to tne throat 
of a healthy horse or ox the air will be heard passing through the 
windpipe with a regular, steady, blowing sound ; if applied to the chest 
a soft rustling murmur will be heard, like a gentle breeze in the tree 
tops, caused by the air passing in and out of the fine tubes and vessels 
of the lungs. But where the lung or throat is diseased, these sounds are 
very much changed and in many directions, which it is not necessary to 
dwell on here, but which will at once indicate the presence of something 
amiss with these important organs. 
If the forefinger of the the left hand is placed firmly on the chest and 
smartly tapped with the ends of the three first fingers of the right hand, 
the sound will be noticed to be more resonant and clear than when the 
same procedure is practiced on the solid thigh. This is because tho lungs 
are not solid, but are always in health well expanded with air. But in 
various diseases, as pneumonia and pleurisy, the}' fill up with fluid and 
become solid, then the sound given out, by thus percussing them, as 
it is called, is like that on any other solid part of the animal. Hence 
this is another very important indication of disease. 
By practice on healthy animals the character and boundaries of these 
sounds can be learned so closely that any variation from them will be at 
once detected, and will sometimes reveal the presence of an unsound 
condition when nothing else will. 
The rapidity with which the act of breathing is performed can easily 
be counted by the heaving of the chest. In health in the adult horse at 
rest it is from eight to twelve times a minute, and in the ox a little faster. 
Any great increase without obvious cause, is a positive sign of diseased 
condition. 
The Animal Heat. 
The temperature of animals eau ha ascertained, to a slight extent, cy 
