A DICTIONARY. 



217 



Actual Cautery. — Red-hot iron. (See 

 Firing.) 



Acute. — A term applied to those diseases 

 which are sudden in their attack and vio- 

 lence, accompanied with great pain. 



Acute Indigestion in Cattle, called 

 Hove, or Blown. — When cattle have be- 

 come fatigued by driving or by long fasting, 

 and suddenly find themselves with plenty 

 of food before them, particularly such as 

 requires little mastication, as chaff, bran, 

 grains, etc., etc. ; and also at aU times 

 when they meet with food they have long 

 been deprived of, as various artificial grasses, 

 particularly red clover, they are apt to eat 

 greedily, and omit to stop for the purposes 

 of rumination ; by which means the rumen 

 or paunch becomes so distended as to be 

 incapable of expelling its contents. From 

 this, fermentation begins to take place, and 

 a large quantity of gas escapes, which in- 

 creases the distention, until the stomach, 

 by its pressure on the diaphragm, suffocates 

 the animal. 



The sijmptoriis are uneasiness and distress, 

 vni\\ quickened respiration ; sometimes there 

 is a degree of phrensy present. When it is 

 occasioned by green food, the evolution of 

 gas is enormous, and the tympanitis gives 

 a drum-like distention to the belly; but 

 when dry food, as chaff, bran, etc., etc., has 

 been taken, the impacted matter does not 

 distend so quickly, and the symptoms are 

 less acute ; they resemble those of constipa- 

 tion ; and sounding the side gives back a 

 response as though a solid matter were hit 

 against. It is thought to be more likely to 

 occur in warm and wet weather than in any 

 other ; and, if such be the case, it must arise 

 from the state of the vegetable matter and 

 the surrounding warmth both being favor- 

 able to fermentation. 



The treatment will consist in attempting 

 to lessen the distention by evacuating the dis- 

 tending gas, or otherwise trying to neutralize 

 it. Purgatives have little or no effect. The 

 evacuation of the gases is effected by the 

 introduction of a probang, which is passed 

 down the esophagus ; or it is brought 



about by puncturing the side, when the dis- 

 28 



tention is urgent, or the want of assistance 

 renders it imperative to evacuate the gas 

 immediately, to prevent suffocation ; a 

 puncture is therefore at once made into it, 

 which, among graziers, is called paunching. 

 When nothing better is at hand, this may 

 be performed with a lancet, or even a pen- 

 knife ; the wound made being kept open by 

 the introduction of a piece of hollow elder 

 or common wood; the place of puncture 

 being midway between the ileum or haunch- 

 bone and the last rib, a span below the 

 transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae 

 on the left side, to which the first stomach 

 or paunch inclines. A cattle trocar will, 

 however, permit the gas to escape with cer- 

 tainty and speed, and should always be 

 used to make the puncture, in preference to 

 any other instrument. As soon as the air 

 is perfectly evacuated, and the paunch is 

 observed to resume its office, the trocar 

 may be removed ; the v/ound being care- 

 fully closed by a pitch plaster, or other ad- 

 hesive matter. It is necessary to observe, 

 that this operation is so simple and safe, 

 that, whenever a medical assistant cannot 

 be obtained, no person should hesitate a 

 moment about doing it himself. The do- 

 mestic remedies for lessening the distention, 

 by condensing the gas, have been various ; 

 as oil of turpentine, and particularly am- 

 monia, a strong solution of which in water 

 has been found serviceable. The allcalies 

 generally have long been used with variable 

 success. Vinegar, in the Quarterly Journal 

 of Agricidture, is strongly recommended; 

 but, as it is observed that the elastic fluids 

 developed are not always alike, so the effects 

 resulting from the most reputed agents have 

 too often failed. Mr. Youatt recommends 

 the introduction o£ chlorinated lime, given 

 in doses of from 3ij to 3iv suspended in 

 water. 



But it is to a foreign veterinarian we are 

 indebted for the best agent for neutralizing 

 the gases given off when the rumen is dis- 

 tended. M. Charlet has recommended the 

 chloride of potash, which substance has a 

 great affinity for the compounds of hydi'o- 

 gen that usually form the major portion of 



