DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 513 



solution of ammonia (one fluid ounce), of spirit of chloroform 

 (one fluid ounce), mixed with a sufficiency of water may be given 

 at intervals of four hours. 



Constipation. 



Constipation is a term given to a more or less complete cessa- 

 tion of the discharge of feces, or to the passage of small hard 

 fecal masses coated with much mucus, or even with blood. There 

 is generally a redness of the lining membrane of the bowels, and 

 also of the eyes and nose. In like manner with colic, constipa- 

 tion also is very generally merely a symptom of disease. As a 

 rule, the disorder is due to the presence of some impediment, as 

 may be occasioned by strictures or engorgements of the stomach 

 or intestines, or by tumours situated either within the bowels or 

 in such a manner as to press upon them from the outside, by 

 volvulus, intussusception, intestinal calculi, or concretions of 

 various kinds. 



With the view of counteracting constipation, which may, if 

 unrelieved, lead on to gangrene and death, or to a fatal issue 

 from other causes, the patient should be fed only on soft food, 

 and a laxative should now and again be given. In many cases 

 the malady is of such a mild nature that if enemas are adminis- 

 tered, and the food be limited to bran, linseed, herbage, and 

 roots, it will be gradually put right. In many cases it is wise 

 to give a full dose of cathartic medicine when an ox is taken 

 ill, and for this purpose, as we have pointed out previously, the 

 sulphate of magnesium (generally known as Epsom salts) is 

 most useful and least injurious. 



If the medicine seems at first to be acting too violently, it will 

 very frequently cease spontaneously after a time. On the other 

 hand, it is truly astonishing how much cathartic medicine a beast 

 will in some cases take. This may sometimes be due to fatty 

 deposits around the rectum, or possibly to a hindrance to the 

 passage from the rumen into the intestines. In several cases of 

 obstruction of the bowels the veterinary surgeon will probably 

 use the sulphate of eserine treatment previously referred to. 



Now, we may also state that both before and after the time of 

 being weaned, a lamb may suffer from constipation of the bowels 

 as a result, for instance, of a bare and dry pasture, or from other 

 causes. As we said before, in our account of diarrhoea, lambs 



33 



