the stomach. Occasionally foreign bodies, such as stones, nails, &c., 

 find their way through the opening into this stomach, and stick there. 

 I remember one case, in which a flat stone got tightly fixed in the 

 entrance : the animal had a continuous dry, barking cough, held its 

 head and nose straight out, and would not touch food or water. I 

 ordered it to be slaughtered, and found the stone in the position 

 named. The cough, in this instance, was reflex, caused by pressure 

 on a branch of the Vagus nerve. In another case, five stones, 

 a penny piece, and a nail were the instruments of obstruction. 

 While in a third, a salmon fish-hook was fixed through three of the 

 leaves of this compartment. Inflannnation of the first, second, and 

 third stomachs is very rare, either in cattle or sheep. 



302. The Fourth, or Digestive Stomach, suff^ers most from 

 inflammation (Gastritis) and is frequently caused by the drinking of 

 strong acids, or through mineral, alkaline, or fungoid poisons, &c. As 

 already stated, the first three stomachs, being merely preparatory to, 

 and sifting machines for, the fourth, are lined by cuticular membrane, 

 resembling the outer skin, so that poisonous materials rarely have much 

 effect on them ; but when the poison reaches the fourth stomach, with 

 its fine velvety, mucous membrane, and digestive function, it soon 

 establishes its action. I have knovv'n arsenic to have been taken by 

 cattle, which showed no ill effect till the fourth and up to the eighth 

 day, when the poisonous action set in, killing them in from four to six 

 hours. The abdominal pain, perspiration, and excitement, in these 

 cases, were something frightful to see; the animals became quite 

 frantic, then dropped down, and died suddenly. Drinking water from 

 streams wherein coal wash has been discharged, is said to have 

 an injurious effect on this stomach, causing great emaciation, hide- 

 bound, diarrhoea, and, eventually, death. I have been engaged 

 in several litigations relative to this, and must say that I have 

 never yet found any injurious effects arise from cattle drinking the 

 black coal water ; but should the washed material from the sides of 

 the burning refuse banks adjoining the coal pit- — charged, as it is 

 with free sulphuric acid, and sulphate of iron — get into a stream, 

 and animals be allowed to drink this water for any length of time. 



