Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1917-05-31

The pulse is accelerated by the d.
gestion of rich food, by hot wealth
er, exercise, excitement, and alarm.
1t is slightly more rapid in the eve
ming than it is in the morning. Well
bred horses have a slightly more rapid
pulse than sluggish, cold-blooded
horses. The pulse should be regular /;
that is, the separate beats should fol-
low each other after intervals of equal
length, and the beats should be of
equal fullness or volume.
Pulse in Disease.
In disease, the pulse may become
slower or more rapid than in health.
Slowing of the pulse may be caused by
old age, great exhaustion, or excessive
cold. 1t may be due to depression of
the central nervous system, as in dunn
miness, or be the result of the adj
ministration of drugs, such as digi-
tails or strophantus. A rapid pulse
Is almost always found in fever, and
the more severe the infection and the
weaker the heart the more rapid is
the pulse. Under these conditions, the
beats may rise to so, 80, or even 100
per minute. When the pulse is above
100 per minute the outlook for recov-
cry is not promising, and especially if
this symptom accompanies high tenn
perature or occurs late in an infectious
disease. In nearly all of the diseases
of the heart and in anemia the pulse
becomes rapid.
The pulse is irregular in diseases of
the heart, and especially where the
valves are affected. The irregularity
may consist in varying intervals be-
tween the beats or the dropping of one
or more beats at regular or Irregular
intervals. The latter condition some
times occurs in chronic diseases of the
brain. The pulse Is said to be weak,
or soft, when the beats are indistinct,
because little blood is forced through
the artery by each contraction of the
heart. This condition occurs when
there is a construction of the vessels
leading from the heart, and it occurs
in certain infectious and febrile dis
cases. and is an indication of heart
weakness.
The heart lies in the anterior por-
ton of the chest slightly to the left of
the median line and extends from the
third to the sixth rib. 1t extends al
most to the breastbone, and little
more than half of the distance between
the breastbone and the backbone. In
contracting, it rotates Slightly on it's
axis, so that the point of the heart,
which lies below, is pressed against the
left chest wall at place Immediately
above the point of the elbow.
If the horse is not too fat, one may
feel the impact Of the apex of the
heart against the chest wall with each
contraction of the heart by placing the
hand on the left side back of the fifth
rib and above the point of the elbow.
The thinner and the better bred the
horse is, the more distinctly this i'm
pact is felt. If the animal is ex-
cited, or if he has just been exercis-
ing, the impact is stronger than when
the horse Is at rest. If the horse is
weak, the impact Is reduced in force.
Certain sounds are produced by each
contraction of the normal heart. 1t is
customary to divide these into two, and
70 call them the first and second
sounds. These two sounds are heard
during each pulsation, and any devia-
ton of the normal indicates some alter
alton in the structure Of the functions