A DICTIONARY. 



225 



Sometimes the irritability of the bladder, 

 in the latter case, depends on the acrimony 

 of the urine ; and, whenever this is the case, 

 attention to feeding, watering, etc., will 

 remove it. Diseases of the kidneys and 

 bladder are accompanied with tenderness 

 over the loins, and a remarkable stiffness of 

 the hind legs. Whenever the bladder is 

 distended with urine, recourse should be 

 had to the catheter. 



Palsy, or paralysis, of the bladder, is 

 sometimes dependent on functional de- 

 rangements, as stomach staggers, or injuries 

 to the brain and spinal marrow. . 



Blasting. — When cattle or sheep are 

 first turned into luxuriant pasture, after be- 

 ing poorly fed, they frequently gorge them- 

 selves with food, which, fermenting in the 

 rumen, or paunch, so distends it with gas 

 that the animal is often in danger of suffo- 

 cation. The symptoms are most distressing; 

 and, unless relief be speedily afforded, death 

 very commonly ensues. If the symptoms 

 are very alarming, a flexible tube may be 

 passed down the gullet : this will generally 

 allow the gas to escape, and afford tempo- 

 rary relief, until more efficient means are 

 resorted to ; these will consist in arousing 

 the stomach and digestive organs to action, 

 by stimulants and carminatives, and coun- 

 teracting the tendency to putrescence by 

 doses of charcoal or lobelia. Some prac- 

 titioners recommend puncturing the rumen, 

 or paunch ; but there is always great dan- 

 ger attending it, and, at best, it is only 

 palliative, and the process of fermentation 

 will proceed ; the gas may escape, but the 

 materials that furnished it still remain. 

 Youatt states : " A cow had eaten a large 

 quantity of food, and was hoven. A neigh- 

 bor, who was supposed to know a great 

 deal about cattle, made an incision into the 

 paunch ; the gas escaped, a great portion 

 of the food was removed with the hand, 

 and the animal appeared to be considerably 

 relieved, but rumination did not return : on 

 the following day the animal was dull ; she 

 refused her food, but was eager to drink. 

 She became worse and worse, and on the 



29 



sixth day she died;" thus proving that the 

 remedy was worse than the disease. 



When animals are blasted in a moderate 

 degree, the carminative drink, and decoction 

 of lobelia, will prove effectual. In all cases 

 of hove, it will be advisable to give injec- 

 tions of warm water, to which add a hand- 

 ful of salt, and the same quantity of 

 charcoal. As a means of preventing the 

 blast, it may be remarlced, that animals 

 should never be turned into any nutritive 

 pasture while the dew is on the ground, or 

 after rain. 



Bleeding. — The practice of abstracting 

 blood has received the seal of antiquity, yet 

 that is no argument in favor of its useful- 

 ness ; and, in view of improving in the 

 future, the author here introduces an article 

 on the subject, by Professor Buchanan : 



" We affirm that bleeding is a barbarous 

 and unscientific remedy, and deny that it is 

 ever necessary. In this matter we take our 

 stand upon the facts recognized by the high- 

 est authorities in medical fiterature. We 

 refer to the most recent and accurate re- 

 searches in chemistry and pathology ; to the 

 experimental investigations of Andral, Ma- 

 gendie, Louis, Simon, and many others, 

 which have settled, beyond all doubt, and 

 placed among the permanent facts of medi- 

 cal science, to be received by all medical 

 schools of whatever therapeutic faith, the 

 phenomena of the blood, when its composi- 

 tion has been affected by hemorrhage, by 

 bleeding, and by various other agencies. 



" It is indisputably established that bleed- 

 ing produces a special change in the com- 

 position of the blood. The change which 

 it produces is not a removal of any effete or 

 morbid materials, — not a removal of any 

 element which tends to create or aggravate 

 disease, — but a removal of the most neces- 

 sary and healthy portion, upon the presence 

 of which we depend for the maintenance of 

 health and vigor. Bleeding inevitably re- 

 duces the red or globulous portion of the 

 blood, because it removes or destroys a 

 certain amount of the red globules, and the 

 loss which it produces is readily supplied by 



