124 



DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



than in those living upon pastures.^ Harms has observed that the 

 individuals occupying the head or end of a row are more often the 

 carriers of such bodies than the others, and explains this fact by the 

 accumulation of foreign bodies toward the ends of the troughs 

 when they are accidentally deposited in them. 



Anatomical alterations. As smooth foreign bodies we find the 

 greatest variety of objects : pebbles, sand, wool-balls, leather- ware,, 

 straps, broken whip-handles, balls, pieces of money, clothing, etc., 

 even the bodies of vipers and adders. All these materials may 

 occasion catarrh and also true inflammation of the mucous mem- 

 brane. If the rumen should contain any sand, it will generally 

 form a compact mass, more or less hard ; the mucous membrane 

 itself may be incrusted by a thick layer of small gravel. 



The sharp bodies most commonly found imbedded in the walls of 

 the stomach are : nails with large heads, needles, hairpins, twisted 

 wires, kitchen forks, etc. They are ordinarily found in the retic- 

 ulum ; the large size of the rumen and the regular disposition of 

 its internal membrane explains clearly why their implantation is 

 very rare in the walls of this compartment, while the irregularities 

 of the mucous membrane of the reticulum easily hold them. 

 Wherever the vuluerant body is fixed, the reticulum presents a cir- 

 cumscribed inflammation which hides a narrow fistulous canal, 

 with thickened walls of a grayish or bluish-gray color, containing 

 pus and alimentary matters. The peritoneal surface of the reticu- 

 lum is covered with a fibrinous exudate or with a layer of proud 

 flesh in the neighborhood of this lesion ; it is adherent to the 

 annexed organs and especially to the diaphragm ; there may be 

 abscess formation around the fistulous course, and the diaphragm is 

 often lined with granulations. The rumen sometimes adheres to 

 the abdominal walls and contains a large quantity of alimentary 

 matters. The foreign body is found at times at the lower end of 

 the fistulous tract, at other times it has left this to enter the stomach 

 where we find it mixed with the food. The offending substance 

 might be expelled with the excrementitious matter ; this has some- 

 times taken place, and the erroneous belief has been entertained that 

 the foreign body has been dissolved. 



The sharp-pointed foreign bodies passing completely through the 



1 Cosson, of Villeneuve-l'Archeveque, mentions that the neighborhood of knit-goods 

 factories is equally dangerous to cows, on account of the scattering in the waters and 

 highways of broken or defective needles taken out of the machines (Morot : Journ. 

 de Lyon, 1890.) — n. d. t. 



