GASTRIC DERANGEMENT FROM FOREIGN BODIES. 125 



walls of the stomach are: all kinds of needles, pieces of wire, 

 broken nails, knives, scissors, forks, pieces of glass, of wood, vine- 

 shoots, etc. According to the direction taken by the foreign body 

 we can also find, in addition to the alterations described as occur- 

 ring in the reticulum and the diaphragm, symptoms of an extensive 

 peritonitis, abscesses of the liver and spleen, adhesions between the 

 reticulum and the liver, abscesses of the abdominal walls or of the 

 «liest, lobular pneumonias, pulmonary abscesses, adhesions between 

 the lungs and the pleura, also pleurisy, etc. The foreign body may 

 penetrate as far as the muscles of the arm and shoulder, may even 

 reach the spinal cord, and leave indurations, adhesions, abscesses, 

 and fistulse in its course. 



The alterations of the heart are described under Traumatic 

 Pericarditis. 



Symptoms. The symptoms disclosing the presence of smooth 

 bodies in the stomach of ruminants consist principally in chronic 

 or acute digestive troubles, produced by irritation of the mucous 

 membrane. Krichels and Schmidt state that in incrustation of the 

 mucous membrane by sand there is a continual mastication without 

 deglutition, abundant salivation, complaining, and extreme weak- 

 ness; the animals remain quiet, the back is arched, or they main- 

 tain a decubital position ; the rumen is very resistant to palpation, 

 and its peristaltic movements are suppressed. If death results, it 

 will ordinarily occur between the ninth and seventeenth days ; in 

 some cases the disease takes the chronic form, and may persist for a 

 long time. 



When the foreign body is pointed^ the symptoms are generally 

 those of a traumatic inflammation of the stomach and diaphragm. 

 "Without any apparent cause, we observe sudden grave digestive 

 troubles, colics, with stamping, kicking upon the abdomen, great 

 agitation, etc.; at times these troubles simulate the symptoms of 

 invagination, in other cases the symptomatic course begins with 

 the ordinary signs of acute catarrh of the stomach. Later, we 

 observe a series of periodic gastric complications of a very incon- 

 stant character. As a rule, chronic tympanites is the salient symp- 

 tom, and it olFers something very peculiar, inasmuch as all the 

 remedies directed against it remain almost without effect. With 

 the progress of the disease, emaciation and weakness become ex- 

 treme, the countenance expresses anguish and pain, the various 

 movements (mastication, lying down, getting up, and walking) 



