Kidd V. Royal Agricultural Society of England. 549 
He-examined by Mr. Field. 
(j. When was this lecture given ? — A. Probably twenty years ago. 
Q. It was given in October 1848 I see. — A. Yes, I thought it was about 
I that. 
' Q. And M. Gelid that we have heard about — how long ago did he die ?— 
A. Oh ! he has been dead many years ; I cannot say how many. 
Q. This book was published in 1848, and that is a note of M. Gelle's some 
years before. — A. Some years belore. 
Q. I suppose sometliing has been learned by the scientific world and the 
surgical world since 1842 ? — A. A great deal. 
Q. And since 1848.? — A. A great deal. 
Q. I think Liebig had not begun to write at that time, had he ? — A. I do 
not know. 
Q. You say, " The disease may occur at any period of the year if cattle are 
subjected to a sudden alteration of diet." Did you see anything in the change 
of djethere to account for what you have heard described as being due to the diet 
of the beast being changed ? — A. The only account that we have heard of 
diet is that of the exhibition of this cake, containing something deleterious. 
Q. With regard to the cake, you say you found no irritant poison in it? — 
A. Yes. 
Mr. Justice Blackburn: That was in the intestines .J' — Yes. 
Mr. Field : Supposing dodder-cake or sesame-cake to have been damaged or 
heated by the damp, would they contain the elements of self-fermentation, 
in fact? — A. Yes. Damaged cake is very likely, indeed, to undergo fer- 
mentation. 
Q. Whether sesame or dodder? — A. Sesame, or dodder, or linseed, or any 
other. 
Q. With regard to imperfect mastication, I suppose, if ground up and mixed 
with the other cake, you could not distinguish it ; I mean if it was ground up 
very fine and mixed with the linseed ? — A. I am not a sufficient microscopist 
to say whether you might not discover .some slight trfices of it ; but I think, 
again, we know at the present time not sufiicieiit ; we know a great deal, but 
not sufficient to recognise all these things by the husks and portions of seeds 
■ which are ground up when a cake is microscopically examined. 
Q. You have been asked about imperfect mastication ; you have heard that 
these animals were perfectly healthy in the morning, and, feeding as they did, 
do you see any reason to suppose that they did not as perfectly masticate that 
morning as any other morning ? — A. Certainly not. 
Q. With regard to the mangolds, you have heard that they were in a pile, 
thatched, and brought into a covered place ; do you see any reason to suppose 
that there was any damp in the mangold itself to set up an unhealthy action ? — 
A. I should think not myself. According to the evidence before us the man- 
gold was in an ordinary condition, 
t Mr. Field : That is the Defendant's case. 
I Mr. Justice Blackburn : What I am going to ask is not at all in the nature 
of a cross-examination, but in order to see if I have thoroughly understood you. 
In the first place, if I understand you rightly, the view you take of this matter 
is that the contents of the rumen, for some cause or other, fermented, and that 
Ihen the feimentation of the rumen produced gas that would come from it, 
and thus produce pressure which caused dtatli ? — A. I do my Lord. 
Q. I believe we all understand that much now ; but what 1 want to under- 
stand is this — I suppose any vegetable matter that is moist and warm, as 
any tiling in the stomach would be, will ferment by itself ? — A. Yes, if 
uncontrolled by the vital act. 
Q. Precisely so : now, if I understand you rightly (and that is what I want 
