440 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



roots, or inferior food of any kind, as mouldy hay or grain, 

 will also cause it. Foreign bodies in the rumen, as rags, old 

 bits of leather, etc. ; diseases of the liver ; clover, frozen to a 

 slight extent, or in a damp condition, and eaten, frequently 

 give rise to the condition. Particularly is this the case in 

 England and Scotland. On the American Continent, how- 

 ever, wet clover is not a very common cause of tympanites, 

 but it may readily be produced by feeding on slightly frozen 

 potatoes, or turnips, or by allowing a rich diet in too great 

 quantities when preparing an animal for show purposes. 

 Feeding on kitchen refuse, slops, and potatoes, is the most 

 common cause of hoven in towns. AVhen occurring in an 

 acute form, it does not arise from any diseased condition 

 of the rumen itself, but is always due to the evolution of 

 gases caused in some of the ways previously described. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are easily detected, and in 

 many cases are of a very alarming character. The animal 

 evinces more or less uneasiness, moves about from side to 

 side, resting first upon one set of limbs, then changing to 

 another set. Sometimes the animal gives vent to low bawls, 

 at intervals of a few minutes. There may be eructations of 

 gas. The left flank begins to enlarge gradually, but some- 

 times rises very rapidly until the side is forced up higher 

 than the highest point of the lumbar spines, the antero- 

 external spine of the ilium disappearing from view. There 

 "will now be a slight, or in some cases a copious, flow of 

 saliva from the mouth. At this stage suff'ering of a severe 

 character is manifested, the respiration is seriously inter- 

 fered with, and the patient gives vent to a series of short 

 grunts during expiration, persistently retains the standing 

 posture, and manifests great unwillingness to move in 

 any direction. Death usually ensues from asphyxia in 

 those cases that terminate fatally. Sometimes death 

 results from rupture of the diaphragm, cr the rumen may 



