1 1 2 Veterhiary Medicine. 



general dullness on percussion, the persistence of the indentation 

 caused by pressure, the outward and downward rather than the 

 upward extension of the swelling, and the slower development of 

 the affection. 



It is far more likely to he confounded with pneumonia, which 

 it resembles in the hurried, labored breathing, the moans emitted 

 in expiration, in the dullness on percussion over the posterior 

 part of the chest, it may be even forward to the shoulders, and in 

 the cyanotic state of the mucosae. The distinction is easily made 

 by the absence of hyperthermia, and of crepitation along the 

 margins of the nonresonant areas in the lungs, by the fact that 

 the area of chest dullness covers the whole posterior part of the 

 thorax to a given oblique line, and by the history of the case and 

 the manifest symptoms of overloaded stomach, not with gas but 

 with solids. From gastro-intestinal catarrh it may be dis- 

 tinguished by the more rapid advance of the .symptoms and by the 

 absence of the slight fever which characterizes the latter. 



Treatme)it. Slight cases may be treated by hygienic measures 

 only. Walking the animal uphill, injections of cold water, fric- 

 tion on the left side of the abdomen to rouse the rumen to 

 activity, antiseptics as in tympany to check further fermentation, 

 and stimulants to overcome the nervous and muscular torpor, 

 may be employed separately or conjointly. When it can be 

 availed of, a rubber hose may be wound round the abdomen and 

 a current of cold water forced through it. 



When further measures are demanded we should evacuate any 

 gas through the probang or a cannula, as in tympany, and thus 

 relieve tension and then resort to stimulants and purgatives. 

 Common salt i fb. is of value in checking fermentation, and may 

 be added to i tb. Glauber salts in four or five quarts of warm 

 water. A drachm of strong aqua ammonia or 2 oz. oil of turpen- 

 tine and Yt, drachm of nux vomica may be added. Boulej^ advo- 

 cated tartar emetic (2 to 3 drachms), and Lafosse ipecacuan 

 (i oz. of the wine) to rouse the walls of the rumen, and more re- 

 cently pilocarpi!! (ox 3 grs.), eserine (ox 2 grs.) and barium 

 chloride (ox 15 grs.), have offered themselves for this purpose. 

 The three last have the advantage of adaptability to hypodermic 

 use, and prompt action. The repetition of stimulants and nux 

 vomica may be continued while there appears any prospect of re- 



