266 Diseases of Cattle, 



PECULIARITIES OF THE ACTION OF MEDICINE ON 



CATTLE. 



There are several peculiarities in the action of medicines 

 on cattle which the veterinarian takes into account. They 

 are chiefly referable to the construction of their stomach in 

 four divisions, only the last one of which corresponds in its 

 action to the single stomach of the horse and of nmn. The 

 first and third compartment always contain food and in large 

 quantity, and until the medicines have passed through these 

 and have reached the fourth stomach, they have little or no 

 effect whatever. It is a common but erroneous notion, as has 

 been shown by Mr. Finlay Dun, that medicines when poured 

 very slowly down a cow's throat, pass, like the ruminated 

 food, direct to the fourth stomach. On the contrary, they pass 

 through the first, second and third stomachs first. 



Accordingly it happens, and not unfrequently, and partic- 

 ularly in some diseases of an inflammatory nature, that the 

 medicines remain in the first or third stomach for a long 

 while after they are administered. Dose after dose is given, 

 and their lack of action is attributed to the obstinacy of the 

 constipation or the inertness of the medicine. At length the 

 rumen is excited to action, and the collected doses are ex- 

 pelled into the fourth stomach and intestines, exciting violent 

 and perhaps fatal action. 



To avoid this, tw^o precautions are to be observed : — 



1. Never give medicine to cattle in a soli4 form, as balls 

 or pills, but in a liquid state, as in drenches, and with plenty 

 of water, a quart or two at a time. 



2. Always combine with cattle medicine wdiich is de- 

 sired to act promptly, some stimulating and aromatic sub- 

 stance which will incite the partly insensible coat of the 

 rumen to action. For this purpose, ginger, carraway seed in 

 powder, and flour of mustard, are generally preferred. 



