THE MORE COMMON AILMENTS OF CATTLE 453 



absence a knife may be used to tap the paunch, and a 

 goose quill or other tube, as a small dipper handle, in- 

 serted in place of a cannula, but such insertion must be 

 speedily made, as the wall of the stomach may quickly 

 fall away from the incision in the skin. In many 

 instances further treatment may not be necessary. In 

 other instances medicinal treatment, including drench- 

 ing, will be advantageous. 



In mild cases relief may sometimes be obtained by 

 placing a large wooden bit or tarred rope in the mouth, 

 held firmly in place by tying behind the horns. A small 

 handful of salt thrown well back into the mouth will 

 cause the animal to work the tongue, which aids in the 

 escape of gas by regurgitation, that is, belching it up. 

 Medical treatment may include: (i) Four tablespoon- 

 fuls of common baking soda given as a drench; (2) 

 aromatic spirits of ammonia given in ounce doses. Both 

 may be profitably accompanied by enemas, that is, in- 

 jections of warm, soapy water. While gentle exercise 

 is good in mild cases, in severe cases it may be highly 

 dangerous. 



Scour in calves. — Scour in calves, which means more 

 or less purging, is so much a matter of degree that it is 

 not easy to define the different kinds thereof or to 

 classify them on a basis that is technical and at the 

 same time strictly accurate. It would seem correct to 

 say, however, that the terms indigestion diarrhoea, and 

 white scour will cover with approximate correctness the 

 different kinds of scour. The acuteness of the symp- 

 toms, though more or less similar in many respects, in- 

 creases with the varied forms of the disease given above. 

 Scour arising from indigestion is not contagious, and 

 that form known as diarrhoea is not essentially con- 

 tagious, but may become so in a marked degree. Th; 

 form technically known as white scour is exceeding! v 

 and persi-stentl}' contagious, since it has been found clif- 



