^4 PHYSIC. 



situated on the internal coat of the intestines, and thus, by producing 

 watery stools, lessen the quantity of fluid circulating through the 

 system. They divert the increased flow of the blood from the affected 

 organ, and determine it to the bowels, which is well elucidated in 

 red water; and they have a peculiar influence on the nervous system, 

 augmenting the energy of the nerves distributed to the intestines, but 

 diministiing it in other parts of the system. 



The chief purgatives in use for neat cattle are Glauber's salts, 

 Epsom svilts, Barbadoes aloes. Linseed oil, and Sulphur. In obsti- 

 nate constipation of the bowels, ten or fifteen grains of the farina of 

 the Croton nut, freshly prepared, may be added with good effect. 

 One pound of Glauber's, or Epsom salts, v.ill purge a full-sized 

 beast. Aloes are very properly getting into disuse : they are uncertain 

 in their effect, they require ver}^ considerable doses of them to be given 

 in order to act alone, and if they should be received into the rumen 

 they are apt to disgust and nauseate the animal. Half an ounce, or 

 six drachms of them, however, may be added to the salts in particular 

 diseases. Where there is considerable fever, or the attack of fever is 

 apprehended, there is no purgative so beneficial as the P^psoin salts. 

 In bad cases, twenty-four ounces may be given at a dose, and eight 

 ounces of sulphur every six hours afterwards, until the full purgative 

 effect is produced. Linseed oil is rapidly superseding the more ex- 

 pensive and the more uncertain castor oil : the dose is from a pint to 

 a pint and a half. As a mild aperient, and in cases where there is 

 no great degree of fever, and a violent purge is not required, there 

 are few better things than Sulphur. Where nothing else is at hand, 

 and the case is urgent. Common Salt is no contemptible medicine : a 

 pound of it dissolved in water will produce a very fair purgative 

 effect, but it should not be given if the animal labours under fever. 

 The following are the cases in which purgative medicines are found 

 useful : — 



1. I have known some graziers who, when feeding old cows (dur- 

 ing summer), have given them a purging drink about every six 

 weeks, by way of keeping off the downfall, which in general has had 

 the desired eflect, and has even caused them to fatten more rapidly. 



2. A purging drink is very properly given to cows soon after 

 calving, in order to prevent the milk fever. 



3. Neat cattle are naturally of a greedy and ravenous disposition, 

 and their appetite is hardly ever satisfied. Milch cows in particular, 

 if feeding on herbage, or other food agreeable to their palate, will 

 often continue to graze until they are in dang(^r of suffocation. Thus 

 tlie powers of digestion become over-burdened, and the animal appears 

 dull and heavy, and feverish symptoms are induced. Purgatives will 

 give the most effectual relief in these cases, and if the appetite does 

 not return soon after the physic, a cordial ball will be useful in re- 

 storing it. 



4. Cows that are turned into fresh pastures sometimes become 

 bound in their body, in which case a purging drink must be imme- 



