The female pulse presents some pecu liarities worthy of note, as will appear from the following average results of 50 observa tions niade under the same conditions as those just recorded :— Mean age, 27. Standing, 89.26 ; sitting, 81'98 ; lying, 80'24 : differences, 7'28, 1•74, and 9'02.
The extreme results, in the female as in the male, are very wide of the averages ; for the difference between standing and sitting ranged from 24 to 0 ; between sitting and lying, from 11 to 0 ; and between standing and lying, from 28 to O. The exceptions to the general rule are still more numerous in the female than. in the male, the total number of exceptions being 60 per cent., and the number of observ ations in which exceptions occurred 46 per cent. Of course the rule here referred to is the general rule established by observations on the male pulse.
If, then, we compare the effect of change of posture on the male and female pulse, we discover that the effect is greater, and the exceptions to the rule less numerous, in the male than in the female. This part of the subject will repay a somewhat close examina tion.
In the following table, the numbers of the pulse, and the differences due to change of posture, are given, in round numbers, the averages being deduced from 66 observations in the male, and 27 in the female, from which all exceptions to the rule are excluded. , The mean age in both sexes is 27. • Froin this table it appears, that though the female pulse exceeds the male by 10 beats, or ith, the effect of a change of posture is con siderably less in the former than in the latter. J3ut, in order to determine the true relation existing between the pulses of the two sexes in this respect, it is necessary to compare equal things with equal. This is done in the following table, where the pulse in the erect posture, as deduced from 101 observations on males of the average age of 27 years, and 74 observations on females of the average age of 251 years, is in either sex 86.
So that for the same frequency of pulse the effect of change of posture in the male is more than twice as great as in the female. The difference is still more strongly marked in early youth.
The instances in which one or more ex ceptions to general rules occurred are, as already stated, more numerous in the female than in the male, the exact proportions being 46 per cent. and 31 per cent. The next question connected with the effect of change of posture on the pulse is, whether that effect is the same at all ages ? The following table answers this question for both sexes in the negative. The averages are deduced from 30 observations at each age in the male, and 20 in the female.
Hence, in the male, the difference above 20 between standing and lying is to the dif ference below 20 as 7 to 5 ; while, in the female, the 'difference above 20 is to that below 20 as nearly 3 to 1. The exceptions to the general rule are also more frequent in thel young subject.
Another question connected with the effect of posture on the pulse requires to be exa mined, namely, does that effect vary with the frequency of the pulse ? The following tables will be found to furnish an answer in the affirmative. The averages in the first table are founded each on 15, and in the second table on 10, observations.
• It will be seen that these tables concur in establishing the general rule, that the effect of change of posture increases with the frequency of the pulse; in the male as the numbers 9,15, 27, 39; in the female as the nurnbers 8, 12, 18.
Another fact bearing on the effect of posture on the pulse, is established by the observa tions of the writer, in confirmation of less accurate experiments previously made by Dr. Knox and others, viz. that that effect is not the same at all periods of the day. The only satisfactory way of ascertaining this fact is by contrasting the same frequency of the pulse at different periods of the day. This was done by the writer, who employed an average of twenty observations on his own pulse, made before noon, twenty between 12 and 51 P. m., and twenty between 5-1 P. m. and midnight. The greatest average difference between stand ing and lying (10 beats) occurred before noon, the number in the afternoon being 8, and in the evening 9.