Diseases of the Digestive System. 189 



a salutary process, intended as Nature's safeguard in the 

 many dangers to which, as the scavenger of the earth, he 

 is necessarily exposed. Thus irritant food is speedily 

 ejected; and the organ also becomes specially excited 

 under the stimulus of numerous ailments, when enforced 

 discharge of the contents has the effect of a powerful 

 sedative on the system. This special sensitiveness has 

 led to egregious abuse in the employment of emetics for 

 almost every disease, irrespective of the torture to which 

 the creature is subjected. Their adoption should be 

 regulated by great care and judgment, as they are likely 

 to produce serious gastric disorder with Continuous 

 Vomition, a condition usually indicative of acute 

 irritation when it arises independently of medicinal 

 agents. 



Gastritic Catarrh, or Catarrh of the Stomach, vulgarly 

 called " husk," consists of a congested and irritative, and 

 more or less inflamed condition of the extensive mucous 

 lining, arising from injudicious as well as erroneous 

 feeding, the presence of parasites or indigestible foreign 

 bodies. 



The Symptoms comprise some amount of fever, 

 irritability of the stomach, with frequent vomition, the 

 fluid being of an acid character, and contains no food. 

 Pressure over the region of the stomach causes severe 

 pain in most cases. The animal is dull, dispirited, and 

 tormented by a constant cough. By extension of the 

 disease to the bowels, a fatal diarrhoea sets in, and the 

 termination is usually fatal. 



Treatment. — This is not always successful, the reten- 

 tion of food or medicine by the stomach being a matter 

 of extreme difficulty. Small quantities only of anything 

 should be given, and at frequent intervals. The best 

 remedies appear to be prussic acid, chlorodyne, or opium, 

 alternated with the carbonates of potash or soda. The 

 injection of remedies beneath the skin offers a suitable 

 method of treatment, thus avoiding the dilution as well as 

 waste by the constant vomition. Some practitioners find 

 great benefit from the administration of a pill containing 

 one to three grains of opium, and sulphate of iron five to 



