494 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



loss of appetite, cessation of rumination, diminution or cessation 

 of the secretion of milk, costiveness, and occasionally a trembling 

 of the muscles. Then the animal stretches out the neck, pro- 

 trudes the eye, gives out a discharge of frothy or slimy fluid 

 from the mouth, and of blood-tinged mucus from the nose. 

 The pulse is quicker and small, the ears are colder, the roots 

 of the horns cold, the breathing laboured, and the general con- 

 dition wasting. There may be at times temporary delirium, and 

 this may be accompanied by attempts to do mischief. 



Mr. John Hawes, of Taunton, recorded, in The Veterinarian 

 for the year 1840^ the following interesting facts. A flock, 

 consisting of more than 200 sheep, strayed into a field wherein 

 was a quantity of wheat which had not been taken away, owing 

 to the unfavourable weather. On this wheat the sheep fed 

 -very fully, before being discovered by the shepherd, who, of 

 -course, on noticing them, immediately caused them to return to 

 the pasture on which they had previously been grazing. How- 

 ever, the removal turned out to have been eff'ected not suffi- 

 ciently early, for on the very next day four of the sheep were 

 found dead, several others also being very ill. This was not the 

 worst, for on the morning of the next day twenty-eight sheep 

 had already died, and nearly as many more were apparently 

 tottering on the verge of death, while at the close of the fifth 

 day after their escapade no less than fifty-eight sheep were lifeless 

 carcases. The remaining members of the flock recovered ; but 

 many of the in-lamb ewes subsequently threw their lambs, 

 doubtless in some measure as a consequence of what had 

 occurred. In each carcase examined after death the rumen was 

 found to be full of wheat, barley, and straw. Moreover, the 

 abomasum and the bowels were highly inflamed, while the spleen 

 was broken up to such an extent that it presented the appearance 

 •of a mass of coagulated blood. The liver, lungs, and other 

 organs appeared to be healthy. 



As a curative measure, Epsom salts and castor oil in suitable 

 doses may immediately be administered to all those animals 

 which evince symptoms of this disorder, and some may be bled, 

 and half a pint of linseed oil given to them. It is a good plan 

 to administerto animals suff'ering from plenalviaa large quantity 

 of warm water by means of the stomach-pump, and purgatives 

 should also be tried. A dose of aperient medicine, as said above 



