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Of the Pulse

an artery. Every time the heart contracts, a por. tion 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 per fect health. It averages about seventy beats a minute in adults. It is much more frequent in children than in adults; and in old men it grows more slow and feeble, owing to the decreased energy of the heart. The pulse is increased both in strength and velocity by running, walking, riding, and jumping; by eating, drinking, singing, speaking, and by joy, anger, etc. 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 full, tense, and strong pulse is when the arrery swells boldly under the finger, and resists its pressure more or less; if, in addition to this, the pulsation be very rapid, it is called quick, full, and strong; if slow, the contrary.

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.

The soft and intermitting pulses are easily known by their names. In cases of extreme debility, on the approach of death, and in some particular diseases, the artery vibrates under the finger like a thread. In feeling the pulse, three or four fingers should be laid on it at once. The most convenient spot to do this, as already mentioned, is the wrist, but it can be readily done in the temple, just before, and close to the ear, in the bend of the arm, at the under part of the lower end of the thing, among the hamstrings, and on the top of the foot.

There are two kinds of large blood-vessels in the human body: arteries and veins. The arteries carry the blood from the heart to the extremities of the body, where they are connected through the capillaries with the veins which bring it back again. An artery pulsates or beats; a vein does not.