580 PUNCTURE OF THE RUMEN. 



Very rarely pus forms at the point of operation, by which the danger 

 of peritonitis is increased and recovery delayed, though not necessarily 

 prevented. In cases seen by Rainard and Schaak, pus burrowed as far 

 as the scrotum. Brogniez lost a case after puncture, owing to injury 

 of, and fatal bleeding from, a caecal artery. 



Even at the present day the best authorities hold very conflicting views 

 as to the value of puncture of the bowel ; and as operation does not remove 

 the primary diseased condition, it must always fail in some cases. In 

 the Lyons clinique the results were bad, but that this was not the fault 

 of the operation is shown by the fact that twenty-five horses experimentally 

 operated on were little the worse. 



III.— PUNCTURE OF THE RUMEN AND RUMENOTOMY. 



In sheep and oxen gas often increases rapidly in the rumen, dis- 

 tends the abdomen, and presses so strongly on the diaphragm as to 

 interfere with respiration and endanger the animal's life. This is 

 generally due to rapid consumption of large quantities of fermentescible 

 materials. Red clover, eaten whilst covered with dew, or in a withered 

 or heated condition, and rapidly grown juicy green food, particularly 

 that grown on heavy ground, are especially dangerous. But any 

 other food which easily ferments, like brewer's grains, wet bran, and 

 roots, &c, may lead to rapid development of gas and distension of 

 the stomach. A frequent cause of tympanites is the presence of 

 foreign bodies in the oesophagus, which prevent the regular discharge 

 of gases formed in the rumen. 



Reiset's experiments on oxen, rendered tympanitic by feeding on 

 clover, show that these gases consist of 74 per cent, of carbonic acid, 

 24 per cent, of carburetted hydrogen, and 2 per cent, of nitrogen ; 

 in wethers of 76 per cent, of carbonic acid gas. Lungwitz's analysis 

 gave 80 per cent, carbonic acid, a certain quantity of marsh gas, 

 nitrogen, oxygen, and traces of sulphuretted hydrogen. Lung w it z 

 thinks that the composition of the gas depends not only on the nature 

 of the food, but also on the stage which digestion has attained. At 

 first more carbonic acid gas is found. The small quantity of gas 

 found in the stomachs of hungry animals consists principally of 

 marsh gas with some nitrogen and oxygen, but contains little carbonic 

 acid. 



The symptoms of acute tympanites are unmistakable, the most 

 striking being more or less rapidly developed swelling, particularly 

 in the left flank, which, under certain circumstances, rises above 

 the level of the lumbar vertebrae. The abdominal walls are often 

 distended to the utmost, and on percussion give forth a hollow sound, 

 feeding ceases, the animals are restless, show colic and dyspnoea 



