I go VETERINARY LECTURES 



ginger and sweet peppers, or other aromatics. These should be 

 given in a quart of thin gruel, mixed with another pint of oil. 

 Owing to the distension, the walls of the stomach lose their tone 

 and become inert, and are unable to perform their function, the 

 derangement often being further aggravated by the owner continu- 

 ally dosing the animal with too many sickly purgatives instead of 

 administering warm stimulating tonics and cordials, which are mostly 

 required after the first purgative has been given. These cases 

 require time and patience, as they are very difficult to manage, for 

 in many instances, and according to the will and condition of the 

 animal, the medicine drops into the paunch or rumen and remains 

 inert, whilst in other cases the drench passes along the oesophageal 

 canal, through the third and fourth stomachs, and establishes its 

 action. After all medicines have failed in this derangement, I have 

 been very successful with an old-fashioned remedy — namely, 3 to 

 3J pounds of fat bacon, cut up into small pieces and boiled for two 

 or three hours in water, along with the addition of 6 ounces of salt, 

 then mixed with a quart of milk, and given as a drench. This must 

 be put in with a horn — as, indeed, ought all cattle drenches — and a 

 few gallons or so of bran or hay tea or cold water should be placed 

 for the animal to drink. I have rarely seen this mixture fail in 

 having the desired effect where no organic lesion was present, 

 and I find it answers much better than repeated doses of raw lin- 

 seed oil. 



297. When the rumen has become very much impacted by the 

 animal getting loose in the byre and gorging itself with corn or other 

 foods, medicine has little or no effect. Good results are sometimes 

 had by cutting into the stomach on the left side, making an opening 

 about 6 or 8 inches long, and emptying the rumen with the hand. 

 This operation is called mmenotomy, and should be performed only 

 by a fully qualified professional man, as there are several important 

 points to be observed before, during, and after the operation. When 

 the rumen has been distended either with gas or food, and after relief 

 has been given, it will be some considerable time before the stomach 

 regains its normal tone, and the animal, therefore, has to be fed with 



