The pulse is nothing more than the beating of an artery. Every time the heart contracts, a portion of blood is forced into the arteries, which dilate or swell to let it pass, and then immediately regain their former size, until by a second stroke of the same organ, a fresh column of blood is pushed through them, when a similar action is repeated. This swelling and contracting of the arteries then constitutes the pulse, and consequently it may be found in every part of the body where those vessels run near enough to the surface to be felt.
Physicians look for it at the wrist from motives of convenience.
The strength and velocity of the pulse vary much in different persons, even in a state of perfect health. It averages about seventy boats a minute in adults. It is diminished, in like manner, by fear, want of nourishment, melancholy, excessive evacuations, or by whatever tends to debilitate the system. In feeling the pulse, then, in sick persons, allowance should be made for these causes, or, what is better, we should wait until their temporary effects have ceased. A hard, corded pulse is that in which the artery feels like the string of a violin, or a piece of tightened cat-gut, giving considerable resistance to the pressure of the finger.