CATTLE. 



unsuspected. At the commencement of the operation, A\iien the 

 skin of the side is in close contact with the paunch, the gas, fluid, 

 and fibrou". matter will all be safely thrown out through the two 

 wounds, fcr, lying upon each other, they are but as one; but when 

 the paunch is partially emptied of the gas, it sinks, and is no longer 

 in contact with the outside skin. The gas and particles of solid food 

 continue to be discharged for a considerable time after this ; and 

 although the greater part may be ejected with sufficient force to be 

 driven through the aperture in the skin, yet some portion will 

 necessarily fall into the abdomen and remain there. This will, ere 

 long, become a source of considerable and dangerous irritation, 

 slow or rapid in its progress and effects, according to the quantity 

 of food that has escaped from the stomach into the abdominal cavity : 

 accordingly it happens, that although the beast may appear to be 

 perfectly relieved by this operation, he does not thrive well after- 

 wards, and in the course of a few weeks or months, sickens and dies 

 of some obscure disease, but which is principally referable to in- 

 flammatory affection of the abdomen. Therefore, the farmer or 

 practitioner who has faith in an occasional recourse to the mode of 

 cure by puncturing the rumen, should always carry a trochar with 

 him, for the tube penetrating three or four inches into the abdomen, 

 forms a continuous passage between the rumen and the skin, not- 

 withstanding the subsidence of the former, and would prevent the 

 escape of any portion of the contents of the rumen into the abdomen. 



Although a portion of the gas may be liberated by this operation, 

 yet the process of fermentation maj' proceed. The gas may escape, 

 but that which w^ould furnish a continued, annoying, and dangerous 

 supply of it, remains. Then the advocates for opening the paunch 

 carry their operations a httle farther. They enlarge the aperture 

 into the paunch, until, as in bad cases of maw-bound, they can in- 

 troduce their hand, and shovel out the contents ; and, as before 

 stated, the stomach, from its comparative insensibility and want of 

 vitality, bears all this without any considerable inflammation or 

 danger ; there is however, the same danger from the escape of a 

 portion of the contents into the cavity of the belly. 



This larger opening into the rumen should never be attempted 

 except by a person perfectly acquainted with the anatomy of cattle, 

 and the precise situation of the viscera of the belly, for otherwise 

 the kidneys or the intestines may be wounded. 



It was the knowledge that the practice of puncturing the i-umen 

 was not so simple and so free from danger as some had imagined, 

 that led to the invention and use of the prohang and stomach- 

 fump. The tube (fig. 1, a, p. 280) is introduced into the mouth, 

 and is passed down the throat, with the rounded extremity, e, down- 

 ward, and is forced on through the pillars of the oesophagean canal : 

 the stilett is then withdrawn, and the gas rushes violently out. The 



