WORMS. S57 



animal dies and almost all the purgative medicine that has been given 

 iG found in the rumen, it is because that stomach has not been suffi- 

 ciently stimulated. There is something in the structure of cattle 

 which renders certain medical rules and principles altogether inap- 

 plicable, and which, in defiance of all fever, occasionally compels us 

 to mingle strange doses of aromatics and stimulants with the very 

 meens by which we are endeavoring to subdue inflammation. This is 

 a very important consideration in the treatment of disease. 



Homoeopathic treatment. — The more or less inflammatory state 

 which generally accompanies it, requires that we commence the 

 treatment with a dose of uconiticm. The most effectual means then 

 is nux vomica; it is indicted chiefly, when the evacuations from the 

 bowels are scanty, haid, covered with mucus, and when the animal 

 frequently draws up the belly. If there be no thirst, we should 

 have recourse to china and hryonia. The latter remedy is also suita- 

 ble when the constipation has been produced by cold, a circumstance 

 in which it frequently alternates with diarrhoea. Opium and argila 

 must be employed when the inactive state of the intestinal tube 

 allows nothing to escape from the body, and the animal remains lying 

 down, though evincing no pain. In very obstinate constipation, 

 where the rectum is empty, and also where only a small quantity of 

 matter escapes, which is not very hard, plumbum never fails to be 

 effectual. 



CALCULI. 



It has been stated (pp. 299 and 300) that various concretions are 

 found in the rumen of cattle. It is the natural situation for them, 

 for there the food is longest detained, and there they have time to 

 form. A few, but much smaller, calculi are occasionally found in 

 the reticulum ; others, composed of thin and friable concentric layers, 

 occupy, yet comparatively rarely, the large intestines of cattle ; but 

 they also are not of great size, for the food passes too rapidly over 

 the smooth surface of these portions of the digestive canal. There 

 are no symptoms by which their presence can be recognized, nor is 

 there any evidence of their being the cause of disease, although it is 

 not improbable that the presence and pressure of tliese bodies, and 

 the irritation produced by them, may in some instances be the cause 

 of colic, strangulation, and other serious aft'ections. 



These occasionally are found in the intestines of cattle, but in no 

 great quantities ; nor are there any authenticated accounts of their 

 being the cause of irritation or disease. The food is so perfectly 

 prepared for digestion, and that process is so rapidly accomplished, 

 and the nutriment is so completely extracted, that there is little left 

 for the support of worms; n^r, if they are received into the intes- 



