550 Kidd v. Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
to see), when the rumen is healthy, and proceeding in its ordinary and normal 
state, it dees control that, and prevent its fermenting? — A. It does. 
Q. And that anything which would stop that action would allow the fer- 
mentation to begin ? — A. Yes, interfere with vital laws. 
Q. By taking away the controlling cause? — A. Yes. " 
Q. Now I want to knovi^ how rapidly would that be, supposing something 
caused the rumen to cease to act ? Would the fermentation begin instan- 
taneously, or would it take an hour, or what? — A. It begins very quickly. 
Perhaps your Lordship would allow me to give a case in illustration. 
Mr. Justice Blackburn : Taking shortly the substance of what I under- 
stand you to say, I have written down this, and I want to see if I have 
correctly understood you. " That if the controlling vital action of the rumen 
which prevents fermentation is suspended by any cause, fermentation begins 
very quickly." — A. "Yes. 
Q. Now you are going to tell us what you mean by " very quickly." — 
A. Take some animals in the morning from out of a straw-yard, put them 
into a field of clover to graze, and it not unfrequently happens that, within 
two hours from the time they were turned out, they will be found dead from 
tympanitis. 
Mr. Justice Blackburn: Then the next thing I want to understand is this, 
you draw your conclusion — it will be a question for the Jury to say whether 
they do the same — you draw your conclusion I'rom the animals having all 
fallen ill, that something must have produced the effect that suspended the 
controlling power of the rumen ? — A. Something, my I^ord. 
Q. That, of course, is a question for the Jury, which they will form their 
opinion on. Now, is there anything which you have been able to see, either 
in the contents of the stomach or in the oil-cake (which I do not know 
whether you have examined yourself or not), is there anything which you 
have been able to detect which would, as a poison, produce that suspension of 
the function of the rumen ; I mean if the taking of the oil-cake did stop the 
action of the rumen, of course the conclusion would be there must have been 
something there ; but, independently of that, have you been able to detect 
any trace of that either in the intestines of the animal or in the specimens of 
the oil-cake? — A. I have not examined the specimens of the oil-cake, and 
.should not consider myself a sufficient authority upon the subject were I to 
do so ; but, so far as the contents of the rumen were concerned, I did not 
observe anything whatever in the contents to account f9r it. 
Q. There was something in your last answer about damaged cake. Sup- 
loosing there was a cake that got damaged, it might only be more or less fer- 
mented and spoilt ; but 1 did not understand your answer to Mr. Field. Would 
cake that had got fermented or mouldy aft'ect cattle? Have you known 
instances in which such cake has acted upon cattle so as to stop the healthy 
action of the rumen, and consequently produce hoven ; or is it merely that you 
say such things may be, and, in the imperfect knowledge existing upon the 
subject, you cannot say whether it is so or not? — A. 1 have never known 
damaged cake to pioduce tympanitis, but 1 have often known damaged cako 
to produce a deranged state of the other stomachs and intestines. 
Mr. Justice Blackburn : That is really all I wished to see — whether I 
understood you rightly. It was rather because I was not quite clear if you 
and Mr. Seymour were thoroughly understanding each other. 1 take it that 
where there is anything that is capable of lermentation you may set the fer- 
mentation going chenucally, as you do when you jnit yeast amongst sugar and 
water, and make it fcrnunt. That is one thing ; but you do not attribute, as 
far as I understand you, the fermentation which existed in these animals to 
the cake, in the way in which yeast would set it fermenting? — A. No. 
Q. I do not understand you to say that it started the chemical action iu 
