DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 51 



Symptom*. The ox suddenly becomes very restle --. stumps with his 

 feet, moves back and forward, hurriedly lies down, rises, moves his tail 

 uneasily, and kicks at his belly with the foot of the affected side. 

 The pain evinced may diminish, but soon returns again. In the early 

 stage there are frequent passages of dung, but after the lapse of eight- 

 een to twenty-four hours this ceases, the bowel apparently being 

 emptied up to the point of strangulation, and the passages now consist 

 only of a little mucus mixed with blood. When injections are given at 

 this time the water passes out of the bowel without even being col- 

 ored. The animal always lies down on the side- where the hernia 

 e\i>t> and stretches out his hind feet in a backward direction. These 

 two particular symptoms serve to distinguish this affection from enter- 

 itis and iuvagination of the bowel. As time passes, the animal becomes 

 quieter, but this cessation of pain may indicate that gangrene of the 

 bowel has set in, and may, therefore, under certain circumstances, be 

 considered a precursor of death. Gangrene may take place in from 

 four to six days, when perforation of the bowel may occur and death 

 result in a short time. 



Treatment. The ox should in the first place be examined by oiling 

 the hand and arm and passing it into the rectum j the hand should be 

 passed along the margin of the pelvis, beginning at the sacrum and con- 

 tinuing downward towards the inguinal ring, when a soft painful swell- 

 ing will be felt, which may vary from the size of an apple to that of 

 two fists. This swelling will be felt to be tightly compressed by the 

 spermatic cord. It very rarely happens that there is any similar swell- 

 ing on the left side, though it is best in such cases to make a thorough 

 examination. The bowel has sometimes been released from its position 

 by driving the ox down a hill, by causing him to jump from a height of 

 2 feet to the ground, and the expedient of trotting him lias been resorted 

 to with the hope that the jolting movement might bring about a release 

 of the bowel. If the simple expedients mentioned have been tried and 

 t'aileil. then the hand being passed into the rectum should be pressed 

 gently on the swelling in an upward and forward direction so as to 

 endeavor to push the imprisoned portion of the bowel back into the 

 altdouien. While this is being done the ox's hind feet should stand on 

 higher ground than the front, so as to favor the slipping out of the 

 bowel by its own weight, and at the same time an assistant should 

 xpioeze the animal's loins so as to cause it to bend downward and so 

 relax the band formed by the spermatic cord. If the imprisoned por- 

 tion of gut is freed, which may be ascertained by the disappearance of 

 the swelling, the n^ual sounds produced by the bowels moving in the 

 abdomen will bo heard, and in a few hours the t'eees and urine will be 

 piwwied as UNiiul. If the means mentioned fail in releasing the impris 

 oned portion of the gut, then an incision about 4 inches long must be 

 made in the right flank in a downward direction, the hand introduced 

 into tin- ald.me:!. tin- -Muatioii and condition of swelling exactly ascer- 



