THE PULSE. 
267 
QUICK PULSE. 
This is always an indication that the animal is under 
some excitement. This will vary in degree according to the 
force of the exciting cause. The business of the veteri¬ 
narian is to ascertain and remove this as speedily as the 
circumstances will permit. We have above stated the 
number of beats in a healthy and diseased state. The 
heart may be excited to more frequent and also to more 
violent action. It may contract more powerfully upon the 
blood-vessels, and consequently drive the fluid with greater 
force through the arteries, and the expansion of the coating of 
the arteries will be greater and more abrupt. The quickened 
pulse invariably indicates a tendency to fever and irritation. 
SLOW PULSE. 
This is an indication of an oppressed condition of the 
heart’s action, and accompanies diseases of an opposite kind 
from those which are the concomitants of a quick pulse. It 
proves that the malady with which it is connected results 
from a deficiency of nervous energy. It is always a conco¬ 
mitant of sleepy staggers. 
HARD PULSE. 
This is indicated by a thumping and jerking feeling 
under the pressure of the finger, and at the same time 
accompanied by a fulness in the flow of blood through the 
vessels. This is a sure sign that a considerable degree of 
fever exists, and in this case immediate and copious bleed¬ 
ing must be had recourse to. 
SMALL PULSE 
Is indicated by feebleness in the beat and a feeling of 
