DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 675 



dark-coloured hay or clover, the fneces will be dark-coloured 

 also ; if, on the contrary, it be fed pn oats, the faeces will be 

 light in colour ; and in the young animal, when fed on milk, it 

 will often resemble it both in colour and consistence, mixed, 

 however, with large masses of curdled milk, and often very 

 foetid. I have often noticed that when indigestion is induced 

 by clover, the urine is very dark in colour, and deposits a thick, 

 almost brick-coloured sediment. This condition of urine, how- 

 ever, need not cause any apprehension, as it is often seen in the 

 £lover-fed animal without any disease being present. The 

 urinary deposit mostly consists of carbonate of lime, the tinge 

 being due to the colouring matter of the food. Indigestion, 

 however, is a fertile source of deposits in the urine, which result 

 from imperfect nutrition of the tissues, or a chemical change in 

 the constituents of the blood-plasma, due to the products being 

 imperfectly prepared, or containing some material unfit for 

 healthy nutrition, as already referred to in the former parts 

 of this work.^ 



Treatment. — Carefully inquire into the cause, and remove 

 it. If due to the process of dentition, the presence of unshed 

 crowns of the temporary teeth irritating and wounding the 

 mouth, or to any irregularity of the dental apparatus, these 

 must be attended to according to the directions laid down under 

 their several heads. In all instances where such causes are not 

 in operation, even when the cause cannot be traced to the food, 

 it will be necessary to make some alteration in the diet, and 

 to examine the various alimentary matters in order to detect the 

 offending one if possible. 



If diarrhoea be not excessive, and the animal thereby much 

 debilitated, it will be advisable to give a mild aperient or a 

 moderate cathartic. To the young animal a dose of castor or 

 linseed oil; to the older, a moderate dose of aloes, combined 

 with a vegetable bitter, ginger, or gentian. After the laxative 

 has operated, I have found that the bicarbonate of soda, with 



^ Continental writers conclude that the diarrhoea or white scour of young 

 animals is an infectious disease, developed from the first to the third day after 

 birth, less frequent after the fourth day, and that the milk has nothing to do with 

 its causation. I cannot subscribe to this opinion. The disease, as observed in this 

 country, is due to irregular or unnatural feeding ; and by unnatural I raeaa 

 forcing young animals to swallow their milk without sucking it. Diarrhoea and 

 dysentery are, however, observed in the young when infected with the septic 

 diseases already described. 



