254 
On the Domestic Veterinary Treatment of 
excitement, the eye is bright, and the pulse full and quick during- 
the continuance of the pain, which ceases from time to time, 
and recurs after intervals of ease. This peculiarity of the disease 
is a distinctive feature which should always be noted, because 
colic is sometimes confounded with the more serious inflam- 
mation of the intestines (enteritis) from which it is most 
essential it should be clearly distinguished. For this purpose 
ic is enough for the farmer to know that in inflammation the 
aspect is dull, and the pain less violent ; and is continuous, 
instead of intermittent, in its expression. 
Treatment of colic is generally successful ; but fatal cases da 
occur, and no time should be lost in applying remedies. 
A very useful and harmless mixture is to be prepared by com- 
bining equal parts of sweet spirit of nitre and laudanum ; of 
this mixture three tablespoons should be given at once in about 
half a pint of water, or, if the animal has eaten too freely 
of coarse food, in a pint of linseed-oil. Immediately after the 
draught has been given, the horse should be walked about for 
half an hour ; and if at the termination of the exercise the 
pain continues, a second dose of the colic mixture in water may 
be given ; and should another half hour pass without relief, it is 
time to summon the veterinary surgeon, and, pending his- 
arrival, the belly should be fomented with water as hot as the 
hands of the men engaged can bear. 
Hoven. — Among cattle and sheep, distension of the first com- 
partment of the stomach with gas from fermenting food is a 
common occurrence, and to this condition the terms " hoven," 
or " blown," are applied. The causes of the disorder are to be 
found in the quantity or quality of the food. Sudden change 
of diet from dry to succulent food tempts animals to indulge 
to excess, and as the result of the filling of the rumen with 
half-masticated food, digestion is interrupted and fermentation 
occurs, the stomach becomes rapidly filled with the gases which 
are given off, and pressure on the diaphragm is the consequence ; 
and sometimes, before any effectual help can be rendered, the 
animal dies from suffocation. 
Promptness of action is essential in dealing with " hoven," 
and especially when it occurs in a flock of sheep which have 
just been turned on to a luxuriant field of clover ; in such 
circumstances the extreme measure of plunging a knife into the 
swollen stomach, and allowing the gas to escape, has been justi- 
fied by the successful result, and when an animal is on the verge 
of suffocation, no hesitation can be permitted. The less urgent 
cases will be amenable to treatment of a milder kind. 
Of the numerous medicines which are in favour with stock- 
owners as remedies for hoven, none is more effective or safe 
