THE SALE OF SICK CATTLE. 
653 
rinarian. Mr. Horsburgh complains of the author of the work 
on “ Cattle’’ for having asserted that a beast that has been once 
subjected to the mechanical removal of an excessive and danger- 
ous accumulation of food from the paunch, should, if it recovers 
from the operation, be prepared for the butcher as soon as pos- 
sible. 
That this should generally be the case I have always said and 
thought. The opening of the stomach in order, mechanically, 
to remove a quantity of food that threatens immediate suffoca- 
tion, is a fearful operation. I truly said, that a stomach whose 
muscular fibres has been so much stretched as it necessarily 
must be, will not soon do its full duty again. When the incision 
is made into the paunch, and its edges are turned back and sewed 
to the integuments by many a stitch, and three or four buckets 
of ingesta are mechanically laded out, and afterwards the divided 
edges of the paunch are brought together again — is it possible 
that this can be effected without a small portion of the food 
falling into the belly; and, if it does so, will not inflammation be 
produced, and that sufficiently intense to be followed by death ? 
Mr. Horsburgh says that he has often performed this operation, 
and laded out the accumulated food, and no harm has followed. 
I concede all this : I concede that in the majority of cases he will 
be successful. But occasionally he will plainly and manifestly 
fail. In a great many cases inflammation unsuspected has been 
excited — is slowly progressing, and, after the lapse of some weeks 
or months, destroys its victim. Then am I not justified in saying, 
that when the paunch has been injured or much distended, the 
animal should be sold almost immediately, or prepared for the 
butcher as soon as possible. Is there any injustice, any cruelty 
in this. Generally speaking, much needless pain attends the 
continued existence of the animal. 
Mr. Horsburgh says that he was led to these remarks “ by 
people selling cows when taken ill, and after a few days’ treat- 
ment.” If I have a cow that has been ill two or three days, and 
I am not satisfied as to the state in which she seems to be, 
should I do wrong by having her destroyed while her flesh is 
good ? Although I might not be able to get what had been her 
true value, yet “ I take something rather than lose all.” 
