Veterinary therapeutics : a guide to the treatment of disease in the domestic animals / by E. Wallis Hoare.

  • Edward Wallis Hoare
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Veterinary therapeutics : a guide to the treatment of disease in the domestic animals / by E. Wallis Hoare. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/968 page 22
    attendant being prepared for such an emergency. Again, it is not safe to draw conclusions from the evidences furnished by the pulse alone in cases where intermittency or irregularity is present, as such conditions may occur in the absence of cardiac disease, and only a careful examination of the heart will decide the question. Hence the student should render himself thoroughly pro¬ ficient in the physical examination of the heart, by first carrying out the procedure on a number of healthy horses, and then on cases of disease. Auscultation of the heart—i.e., the act of listening to the cardiac sounds is best carried out by means of an instrument termed a ‘ stethoscope.’ This, like all instruments of precision, requires a long course of study before the technique of its successful application can be mastered. The advantages which the instrument possesses over the direct method of examining the heart (i.e., by means of placing the ear over the cardiac region) are quite obvious, and amongst these must be mentioned the facility with which the points of maximum intensity of the various cardiac murmurs can be determined by the aid of this instrument. Some practitioners prefer an instrument termed the * phonen- doscope,’ but after a trial of both we think that the binaural stethoscope, especially the pattern known as Haydn-Brown’s, is the most useful for the purpose of auscultation. It is essential, in order to avoid erroneous conclusions, that special care should be exercised in using the instrument. Certain sounds, such as those due to the contact of the instrument with the hair, or arising from movements of the skin in the case of a nervous, irritable animal, may easily be mistaken for cardiac murmurs. Similar errors may arise in connection with the vesicular murmur arising from the lungs, or from sounds originating in the double colon (borborygmi). Con¬ stant practice in the use of the instrument will overcome these difficulties. Perfect quietness of the surroundings is essential. Another matter of importance which should not be over¬ looked is that, in the case of nervous or unhandled horses, the mere application of the instrument may cause disturb¬ ance of the cardiac action, if not actual palpitation, and this
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3