THE HOOVE. 103 



suffocated every moment. This has, however, been sometimes suc- 

 cessful, especially if the beast is made to trot ; for, by the motion and 

 the shaking of the stomach thus produced, the roof of the paunch has 

 been forced a little open, and a portion of the air has escaped, and 

 some of the food with it, and the stomach has been relieved from a 

 part of its distension, and has been enabled to act upon the remaining 

 food, and the process of rumination has recommenced. It is, how- 

 ever, dangerous work; for in the act of moving with the stomach so 

 distended" either it or the diaphragm upon which it is pressing is in 

 danger of being ruptured. 



Some have resorted to an operation. Midway between the last rib 

 and the haunch-bone, the distended paunch will be felt pressing 

 against the flank. A lancet or a pocket-knife has been plunged into 

 the animal at that spot, which has passed through the skin and the 

 wall of the belly, and entered the paunch. The vapour has then 

 rushed out with a hissing noise, and steamed up four or five feet high, 

 and some of the contents of the bowels have been forced up with the 

 gas, and the flanks have fallen, and the beast has evidently become 

 less, and has been so much relieved that he has begun to ruminate, 

 and has done well. The wound is left open for a while, that any 

 newly-formed gas may escape: it then soon heals of itself, or would 

 almost immediately if its edges were brought together by a slip of 

 adhesive plaster. 



It, however, too frequently happens, that, although present relief 

 has been obtained, and the beast has ruminated and eaten, it has in a 

 few days begun to show symptoms of indisposition, and has become 

 feverish, and drooped, and died. We account for this by some of the 

 gas, and, perhaps, a portion of the food, getting into the belly, be- 

 tween the paunch and the flank, and falling down among the intes- 

 tines, and causing irritation and inflammation there. 



Some have adopted even rougher and more effectual methods of 

 remedying the evil. They have not contented themselves with simply 

 puncturing the paunch, but they have cut a hole into it through the 

 flank large enough to introduce the hand ; and so they have not only 

 liberated the air, but have taken out the fermenting food by pailfuls. 

 They have even gone so far as to pour in water, and fairly wash the 

 paunch out. They have then brought the edges of the wound toge- 

 ther by passing a few stitches through it, and including the substance 

 of the flank and the wall of tiie paunch in each stitch, and afterwards 

 covered the wound with adhesive plaster, and it has readily healed, 

 and no bad consequence has ensued. In desperate cases, as when 

 the paunch seems to be filled with a mass of food that will continue 

 to ferment, and cannot be got rid of either by rumination or by j)hysic, 

 this bold mode of treatment may be adopted. The paunch has few 

 blood-vessels, and little sensibility, and will bear great injury without 

 any fatal consequence. But this expedient has not always succeeded. 

 Inflammation has ensued, and carried the animal ofl". Besides this, 

 the paunch, being suspended by these stitches, and afterwards hang- 



