THE CORDS, OR GUT-TIE 851 



the bowels with each other, that they become tied into a kind of knot, 

 and the passage of food along them is obstructed. When the small 

 intestines of cattle are observed hanging loose, as it were, at the end 

 of the mesenter3^ (see fig. 2, p. 330,) it is not to be wondered at, if, 

 in the disturbed, increased, hurried, and sometimes inverted peristaltic 

 motion which takes place in consequence of colic, one portion of the 

 intestine should be entangled among the rest, and the fatal knot 

 should be tied. Occasionally a small piece of fatty matter disengages 

 itself from the mesentery and hangs floating in the belly, and then, 

 either in the changes of situation which the bowels undergo in natu- 

 ral exercise, or more particularly in the commotion of colic, it en- 

 twines itself round a portion of the intestine, and obstructs the pass- 

 age. These twists, and loops, and knots, are sometimes strangely 

 intricate. When the dead animal lies before the practitioner, it is 

 almost impossible to unravel them. This is the true net or knot, so 

 dreaded in some parts of the country. It is the result of those 

 colicky pains which have been mistaken for strangulation, and which 

 have been increased and hurried on to the production of this involved 

 state by the absurd and brutal measures that have been adopted. 

 Strangulation having once taken place, there can be no remedy. All 

 that can be done is to attack every case of colic in good earnest, as 

 soon as it is perceived, for no one can tell how soon the displacement, 

 twist, knot, or whatever it be, will occur in consequence of the per- 

 verted action of the intestiaes, or the violent struggles of the animal, 

 caused by the torture which he endures. 



THE CCRDS, OR GUT-TIE. 



This is another singular and fatal species of intestinal strangula- 

 tion. It is not of unfrequent occurrence in some districts, and espe- 

 cially in wet and marshy situations : it is peculiar to the ox, and is 

 rarely observed in him after the second or third year. The beast 

 shows disinclination to food — rumination is suspended, or performed 

 in a listless, interrupted manner — the animal appears to be griped — 

 he strikes at his belly with his hind legs — he lies down, and, as he 

 gets up again, bows his back in an extraordinary way, and then, all 

 at once, stretching out every limb, he gives the spinal column a 

 somewhat concave form. Small quantities of fseces are voided, min- 

 gled with mucus, and sometimes with blood ; and if the animal is 

 examined, by introducing the hand into the rectum, he evidently 

 suffers extreme pain. 



The ailment is referable to one side more than the other, and 

 generally to the left side. The hind leg on that side is frequently 

 advanced and then retracted, and, in some cases, becomes partially 

 paralyzed. 



These symptDras are mor«^ and more alarming : if the ox can be 



