194 CHRONIC INFLAMMATION OF THE GASTRIC COMPARTMENTS. 



Treatment should be directed towards checking haemorrhage, dimin- 

 ishing intolerance to food, and assisting the healing of the lesions. 

 These objects are facilitated by prolonged complete rest in the stable, by 

 injecting ergotine, or, '7 per cent, saline solution, at the time when the 

 haemorrhage occurs, and, if possible, by placing the animals on milk diet 

 or on emollient food, like gruels, emollient infusions, barley, milk, cooked 

 roots, etc. 



Stimulation over the region of the abomasum is also of value. At a 

 later stage, when the acute symptoms have diminished, Carlsbad salts, 

 in doses of 1 to 2 ounces per day, can be given. Bicarbonate of soda is 

 also of considerable value. 



CHRONIC TYMPANITES. 

 Chronic Indigestion — Obstruction of the Abomasum— Chronic Gastritis — 



Dyspepsia. 



Among pathological conditions of the stomach in ruminants a 

 certain number are clinically marked by one constant symptom, viz., 

 chronic tympanites, a fact which was formerly recognised as indicative 

 of chronic indigestion. 



It is evident that such titles have only the significance accorded 

 them, and the term chronic indigestion used only to mean that gastric 

 digestion was badly performed, and that the condition was more or less 

 permanent. It being granted, on the other hand, that the term in- 

 digestion is used to characterise temporary conditions during which 

 digestion is suspended, and produces immediate disturbance, it would 

 appear that the term gastric dyspepsia is more exact and more in 

 conformity with the present state of our knowledge of general i^hysio- 

 logy. In studying this question it is clear a number of facts still 

 require explanation, for, as has been previously indicated, we know 

 almost nothing concerning the variations in the chemical phenomena 

 of gastric digestion under different morbid conditions ; nevertheless, the 

 dominant fact, the imperfect or irregular digestion, is easily appreciable. 

 Future discoveries will no doubt enable us more exactly to differentiate 

 several dyspeptic conditions due to chemical or mechanical causes and 

 with or without anatomical lesions. At present it is sufficient to indicate 

 the limits of inquiry. 



Causation. The symptom of chronic tympanites accompanies a 

 great number of very different conditions — some due to disease of the 

 digestive tract itself, others to general diseases or lesions of neigh- 

 bouring parts. In the latter cases the tympanites is only indicative 

 of secondary dyspepsia ; in the former, on the other hand, the dyspepsia 

 is primary. 



Secondary dyspepsia occurs very commonly during tuberculosis. 



