PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS. 
493 
this purpose Nocard injects under the skin, behind the shoul¬ 
der, io cc. of anti-toxin serum repeated in two weeks. 
Let me suggest peroxide of hydrogen as a local dressing 
in wounds of the extremities in particular. This preparation 
freely gives off oxygen, and the tetanus bacillus, which is con¬ 
fined to the seat of traumatism and does not enter the circu¬ 
lation, cannot live in a medium exposed to oxygen. 
PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS. 
By Jacob Helmer, D.V.S., Scranton, Pa. 
A Paper read before the Pennsylvania State Veterinary Medical Association 
at Cresson Springs, Sept. 3, 1S95. 
Physical diagnosis is the process of distinguishing diseases 
by their physical (objective) signs, without recourse to sub¬ 
jective symptoms. It depends on scientific methods of physi¬ 
cal examination as inspection, auscultation, percussion, palpa¬ 
tion, mensuration and succession, assisted by any mechanical 
aids or instruments that may, by extending the power of 
physical senses, be useful in detecting the signs of disease. 
Its conclusions are confirmed by clinical observation and the 
autopsy. 
A paper limited to the time of a brief essay cannot apply 
the idea of this subject to the variety of diseases of the organs 
and tissues found in the animal body. We therefore select a 
group : The pulmonary diseases of the horse, and confine this 
article to a discrimination of them by the methods of physical 
diagnosis. 
The value, comparatively, of the methods of physical ex¬ 
amination is less in the veterinary than in the human practice 
of medicine. The anatomy of the horse’s chest renders thor¬ 
ough physical examination extremely difficult. It is not easy 
to listen and hear sounds through such a thick wall. The 
voluntary movements of the skin over the panniculus car- 
nosus muscle interferes. The usual restlessness of the animal 
and the awkward attitude of the examiner are among the ob¬ 
stacles to be overcome. 
Inspection .—This signifies the use of the sense of sight to 
