514 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



may be constipated when the milk of the mother is of peculiar 

 quality, or when it is taken in too great quantity, and coagulates 

 in the fourth stomach. A lamb, previously in good condition, 

 may all at once, perhaps, become dull and unwilling to move; it 

 pants, and is costive. If relief be not obtained, the lamb may die, 

 and after death as much as 3 lb. or 41b. of curd may, perhaps, 

 be taken from the abomasum. By way of treatment, plenty of 

 warm water with three or four ounces of Epsom salts dissolved 

 in it may be administered, either by means of a long-necked 

 bottle, or with a Read's patent pump. After the bowels have 

 been properly relieved, both the lamb and the mother may be 

 taken to a pasture different from that on which they have been 

 feeding. Again, constipation may be met with occasionally 

 in full-grown sheep, as a result of the dryness of the pasture or 

 of unsuitable or acrid herbage, or of a too plentiful supply of 

 hay and corn. 



DiARRHCEA. 



We now come in due course to the consideration of the very 

 opposite condition to that last described. Diarrhoea is a some- 

 what difficult disorder to treat of, inasmuch as it may be due to 

 so many different causes. As we have said above, and as our 

 readers probably know well, colic and constipation are in not a 

 few cases best considered in relation to the general disorders of 

 which they, and especially the former, are merely symptoms. 

 This is still more true, perhaps, of the affection which we are 

 now to discuss. 



Every owner of stock knows full well that diarrhoea is a very 

 serious disorder. As well in the case of calves as in that of 

 lambs, this derangement, which may, of course, arise from many 

 different causes, is a source of considerable loss, both in the way 

 of actually fatal issues, and also by reason of the emaciation and 

 wasting which it occasions. Now, as our readers probably know 

 quite well, diarrhoea is very frequently met with in animals rather 

 as a symptom of disease than as a specific disease in itself, 

 although it may be the chief, or perhaps even the sole noticeable 

 derangement. It is necessary in all cases to determine the 

 cause of it. Sometimes diarrhoea is due to inflammation, for 

 the most part confined to the internal lining membrane of the 

 small intestines, and as a rule not accompanied by much straining. 



