The =force and character of the pulse= differ in the various species. In the =horse= it is full, moderately tense and elastic. In the =ass= and =mule= it is smaller and harder, with an inequality of force in successive beats, and sometimes even a beat is suppressed or imperceptible. In the =ox= the pulse is full, soft and regular, appearing to roll forward beneath the fingers. In the =sheep= and =goat= the pulse is small but with a peculiar quick or sharp beat. The =pig’s= pulse is said to be firm and hard. That of the =dog= and =cat= is firm and hard coming with a sharp impulse against the finger. In the dog, however, successive beats are not always of the same force and an intermission or complete absence of a beat is by no means an indication of disease of the heart or other serious malady. It often attends the slightest excitement in a perfectly healthy animal. In disease the _pulsations_ may become:—=frequent= or increased in number; =slow= or decreased in number; =quick= or striking with a sharp impulse against the finger; =tardy= or without sharpness of stroke and as if they rolled slowly past under the finger; =full= and =strong= when the impulse is forcible and not easily compressed by the finger; =weak=, =feeble= or =indistinct= in the opposite conditions; =small= when though perfectly distinct and forcible they are wanting in fulness; =hard=, when forcible and jarring (this is sometimes called =wiry= or, if smaller, =thready=); =soft= when though the artery may be full the beat is devoid of hardness and easily compressible so as to be unfelt; =oppressed= when with a full rounded artery, the impulse is jerking though not hard and as if the distended vessels opposed the transmission of the impulse; =jerking and receding=—=leaping=, when with empty and flaccid arteries the pulse seems to leap forward with each beat of the heart—(this pulsation may be visible to the eye in the carotids); =intermittent= when after a number of beats at regular intervals there is a complete pause extending over that period of time which would have been occupied by a full beat; =unequal= when some beats are strong and others weak; =irregular= when without any distinct intermission for a period equal to that of a single beat, the intervals between successive beats are of varying length. The pulse further has a peculiar =thrill= or =tremor= in states of great debility with deficiency of blood and imperfect filling of the vessels. Of these the =leaping=, the =intermittent=, the =unequal= and the =irregular= pulses are of special importance in their bearing on heart diseases.