CONSULTATIONS. 
29 
their food without having it mixed with a portion of sand, which, 
being indigestible and heavier than the particles of food, will gra- 
vitate to the most dependent part of the stomach, and there accu- 
mulate. I have known it, in similar situations and soils, occur- 
ring both in horses and cattle. 
In some cases, however, I must observe that animals have swal- 
lowed sand or earth apparently from acidity in the stomach. In 
such cases these matters have been eaten up greedily, and an 
accumulation, of course, has taken place rapidly. The animal, 
in these cases, becomes unthrifty in its coat, and takes to licking 
earth with his tongue, or it eats lime from a wall, or commences 
to eat the filth which may have gathered on the wood of the stall, 
or among his feet under the litter. The remedies, in such cases, 
are a dose of physic and the alkali. Now it is possible that such 
may be the cause in the cases you mention ; but I scarcely think 
so, and would rather refer it to the soil. 
I am afraid that the means of prevention are not within reach, 
viz. a more solid surface and more luxuriant pasture. These might, 
perhaps, be obtained, if it were possible, to give a good top dress- 
ing to the pasture either of clay, good soil, or good manure, so as 
either to consolidate the surface, or produce a more abundant 
growth of grass, and give them a better bite, in which case 
they would naturally avoid the sand ; but as these means are 
probably not within reach, I should advise those farmers who are 
most troubled with the disease to give occasionally a good dose 
of common salt (muriate of soda), say ] lb. at a time in half a 
gallon of water, repeating it once a fortnight during the season in 
which the disease generally prevails, with plenty of water to drink. 
When the animal shews symptoms of disease, I would advise 
1 lb. of linseed oil and 10 drops of croton oil as a dose ; and if 
this does not take effect, repeat the dose every twelve hours, or 
try the common salt in twelve hours — 1 lb of it, and 10 croton 
beans : in short, repeat the purgatives until the bowels are opened, 
for you need not fear to give too much. It is, however, well to 
change the medicine occasionally, oil, salt, Epsom salts, and croton, 
with plenty of water or gruel. By these means I think you may 
succeed; but from the inert nature of the mass it is very difficult 
to remove by medicine ; and then the only means of cure left in 
these cases is to make a free incision into the paunch, and to ex- 
tract the contents with the hand. And although this appears a 
formidable operation, it is by no means so dangerous as might 
be supposed, and is very commonly accomplished with success. 
The wound should be closed carefully, and care taken not to allow 
any of the contents to pass into the cavity of the peritoneum, 
which might give rise to inflammation of that membrane. This 
is easily avoided with ordinary care. 
