VETERINARY PATHOLOGY AND SURGERY. 
611 
suffocation. How is this accomplished, and how to be pre- 
vented ? It is accomplished thus. The rumen is generally 
distended ; there is an all but total loss of nerve force, only 
sufficient remaining to carry on respiration. After a time 
fermentation commences, a portion of the contents of the 
rumen will he forced into and allowed to pass up the oesopha- 
gus into the pharynx, when, in consequence of the epiglottis 
having lost its functions, as is proved by the administering 
any fluid in this stage frequently killing the animal at once, 
the ingesta is sucked or drawn down the trachea into the 
bronchial tubes, and speedily causes suffocation. This I have 
seen in very many cases on post-mortem examinations. 
How is this to be prevented, so as to give art and nature time 
to effect a cure ? for I believe that many cases would recover 
if it were not for this cause. I fancy I hear some of my 
professional brethren say, give your medicines by means of a 
tube passed into the oesophagus ; give medicines that will 
stimulate the nervous system, and have a tendency to correct 
fermentation. Good : I have done all this ; I have succeeded 
in some of the worst cases, and, again, I have been thrown 
from the pinnacle of delight at the supposed efficiency of my 
remedies into the abyss of despair by cases, not apparently so 
utterly hopeless, terminating in the way I have described. 
Is the eructation of the contents of the rumen, if I may so 
term it, always due to fermentation ? The rumen is nearly 
always distended, and the pressure resulting from that dis- 
tension, acting upon a tube deprived of nerve force, with 
perhaps the animal’s head lying lowest, would he sufficient 
to cause the contents of the stomach to travel along the 
oesophagus. I ask the profession, is there a preventive? 
Would it be practicable to open the rumen and remove the 
ingesta ? 
VETERINARY PATHOLOGY AND SURGERY. 
By George Lewis, Jun., B.A., Monmouth. 
The following cases, selected from many which were seen 
by me, in company with my father, will probably present 
nothing novel to senior practitioners ; hut they may at least 
prove interesting to the junior members of the profession, and 
to those who, like myself, are in limine. With this view I 
am induced to offer them to you for insertion in the Veteri- 
narian. 
Case I. Diaphragmatic Hernia . — On July 7th my father 
