1S4 FISTULJE OF RETICULUM. 



reticulum, such as pins, needles, and stones. This is especi- 

 ally seen in troublesome cases of pica, or voracious appetite, 

 which are not unfrequently seen in cows. The most strange 

 concretion I ever saw from the reticulum was a man's night- 

 cap, encrusted with salts of lime, and which had been 

 swallowed by a cow long before her death; the latter was due 

 to a totally different cause to the hardened nightcap in her 

 stomach. 



FISTULA OF THE RETICULUM. 



A passage through the walls of the reticulum may be 

 effected by sharp objects entering this cavity, or by irritant 

 poisons. In the first form we usually have a wire, knitting- 

 needle, or nail pushed forwards, gradually" getting coated 

 by a protecting layer of lymph, through the diaphragm to the 

 lungs or heart. Sometimes the object deviates towards the 

 sides of the chest, and passes out beneath or behind the 

 shoulders, and escapes. More frequently the heart is inter- 

 fered with, pierced, and the animal drops, and dies suddenly, 

 without having shown any sign of ill health until a few 

 minutes before death. 



Irritant poisons, such as arsenic, may lodge in the reti- 

 culum and produce inflammation, and death at its most 

 dependent part, so as to lead to a passage through the walls 

 of the belly. This is noticed by the food which the animal 

 swallows dropping on the ground, and the animal soon pre- 

 senting a starved appearance.* 



IMPACTION OF THE STOMACH IN SHEEP. 

 As in cattle, we occasionally observe the contents of the 

 * Edinburgh Veterinary Review, vol. i., p. 202. 



