438 
ON THE CHOKING OF CATTLE. 
the owner of the animal, or of his servants. But as neither of 
these parties are in general willing to acknowledge liability to fall 
into such an error, the veil of oblivion is quickly and quietly 
drawn over the case, and the animal is said to have been visited 
with some disease of an unaccountably sudden and mysterious 
kind. Although such is the ordinary course that cases of this kind 
take, it is surely inconsistent in the veterinarian, who claims for his 
profession the title of a “ science,” to have recourse to such silly 
subterfuges, or to submit to become the dupe of them in others. 
There can be no doubt that it is ultimately more for his profes- 
sional reputation, and the interest of his employer as well, that all 
such cases should, if possible, be traced to their proper causes, and 
the means of prevention or remedy that exist pointed out. There are 
many who pride themselves on their dexterity in performing ope- 
rations in farriery, and it may, no doubt, wound the self-esteem of 
such persons when told that they have not only bungled the giving 
of a dose of medicine, but they have also endangered the life of 
the patient they were attempting to save. Still, if by such expo- 
sure the animal can be preserved, or the operator induced to adopt 
a safer mode of proceeding in future, it is surely better to speak 
out. Besides, candour has nothing to fear from a disclosure of the 
truth. 
Having met with a number of cases in which untoward results 
occurred, or were likely to occur, from the improper mode in which 
the animals had been drenched, I propose, in the following paper, 
to draw the attention of farmers, and especially of veterinarians, 
to the subject, so that the experience of others may be brought 
out, and a more satisfactory pathological creed established in regard 
to it. It seems to me the more necessary at present that well-de- 
fined information should exist upon this point, from the position 
the veterinary surgeon is likely by-and-by to occupy as arbiter in 
cases of dispute between the insurers of cattle and the insured. 
Suppose, for example, an insured animal to fall ill, and to have a 
dose of medicine awkwardly forced upon it by the owner, or some 
one in his service, and that evil consequences result — that, in short, 
the animal dies. It would come to be a very nice point in medico- 
legal inquiry, whether the Insurance Company was liable for the 
price of the animal. I, therefore, purpose to give the amount of 
my own experience upon the subject, as follows : — First, a detail 
of the cases I have seen, in the order in which they occurred ; and, 
second, such remarks as they may suggest or warrant in regard to 
the causes tending to produce accidents in drenching ; the proper 
and improper modes of doing it ; the pathological conditions re- 
sulting from accidents happening in this way, with the remedial 
