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668 GENERAL PATHOLOGY. :
The following conditions nsually give rise to high arterial tension
Affections of the nervous system ; the rigor of fevers ; Bright's disease
of the kidneys ; lead-poisoning ; gout ; degeneration of the vessels.
It may be useful to add here some account of the changes that may
be expected in the pulse during the progress of an ordinary acute ill-
FiG. 370.

(p) Picrotous.
Sphygmographic Tracings illustrating Different Characters of the Pulse.
ness. These present, of course, great variations in different cases, yet
there are certain changes that follow in succession so often that they
may be said to form a sort of general rule. In case a person of robust
constitution be attacked "svith acute fever, the pulse will differ in the
separate stages of the progress of the affection. During the chill the
c. high arterial tension occurs—and the pulse
arteries contract— /. is
frequent, small, hard, long, and incompressible (Fig. 370, d). During
the continuance of this condition the temperature of the patient rises
rapidly. With the disappearance of the chill it will be found that the
pulse has changed in character in one particular : the arterial tension
has relaxed. The pulse now becomes large, and is much softer, but it
is still strong and incompressible, for the heart is yet vigorous, and is
perhaps ex<'ited to unusual activity, giving a " full bounding pulse"
(Fig. 370, />). This is a condition in Avhicli sedatives are of advantage,
especially if this character of pulse be very marked. As the fever con-