216 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



tion in the case of the hernia is when the walls of the sac have be- 

 come greatly thickened; these will, of course, remain as a swelling 

 after the bowel has been returned ; and when the protruding bowel 

 has contracted permanent adhesions to the sac it is impossible to 

 return it fully without first severing that connection. 



Treatment. Treatment is not always necessary. A small her- 

 nia, like an egg in a new-born calf, will usually recover of itself 

 as the animal changes its diet to solid food and has the paunch 

 fully developed as an internal pad. 



In other cases apply a leather pad of 8 inches square attached 

 around the body by two elastic bands connected with its four cor- 

 ners, and an elastic band passing from its front border to a collar 

 encircling the neck, and two other elastic bands from the neck collar 

 along the two sides of the body to the two bands passing up over the 

 back. 



For small hernias nitric acid may be used to destroy the skin and 

 cause such swelling as to close the orifice before the skin is separated. 

 For a mass like a large goose egg one-half ounce of the acid may 

 be rubbed in for three minutes. No more must be applied for 

 fifteen days. For large masses this is inapplicable, and with too 

 much loss of skin the orifice may fail to close and the bowels may 

 escape. 



The application of a clamp like those used in castration is a 

 most effective method, but great care must be taken to see that all 

 the contents of the sac are returned so that none may be inclosed in 

 the clamp. 



Another most effective resort is to make a saturated solution of 

 common salt, filter and boil it, and when cool inject under the skin 

 (not into the sac) on each side of the hernia a dram of the fluid. A 

 bandage may then be put around the body. In ten hours an enor- 

 mous swelling will have taken place, pressing back the bowel into 

 the abdomen. When this subsides the wound will have closed. 



DROPSY OF THE NAVEL. 



A sac formed at the navel, by contained liquid accumulated by 

 reason of sucking by other calves, is unsightly and sometimes in- 

 jurious. After making sure that it is simply a dropsical collection 

 it may be deeply punctured at various points with a large-sized 

 lancet or knife, fomented with hot water, and then daily treated 

 with a strong decoction of white-oak bark. 



THE BLUE DISEASE ( CYANOSIS). 



This appearing in the calf at birth is due to the orifice between 

 the two auricles of the heart (foramen ovale) remaining too open, 

 allowing the nonaerated (venous) blood to mix with the aerated 

 (arterial) blood, and it is beyond the reach of treatment. It is 

 recognized by the blueness of the eyes, nose, mouth, and other 

 mucous membranes, the coldness of the surface, and the extreme 

 sensitiveness to cold. 



CALF DIPHTHERIA (NECROTIC STOMATIS) . SEE INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



Constipation. At birth the bowels of the calf contain the meco- 

 nium, a tenacious, gluey, brownish yellow material largely derived 



