CONSULTATIONS. 397 
probably, serous. By purgati ves you could do no harm, and might, 
possibly , do good. 
Five minims of the croton oil, with half a pint of castor oil, might 
be given every six hours, until the bowels were opened ; and they 
might afterwards be kept open by 4 oz. doses of flour of sulphur. 
Let these medicines be administered gently, so as, having de- 
scended the oesophagus, to pass along the oesophagean canal, and 
enter the abomasum, and not be poured down bodily, so as to force 
asunder the pillars of the roof of the rumen, and fall into that 
viscus, and be lost for all present purpose. 
Hoping to hear from you again shortly, I remain, &c., 
W. Youatt. 
March 2, 1839. 
SECOND LETTER. 
My dear Sir, — I deemed it most kind that you took such pains 
with so profitless a case. I thank you. The calf died, and no 
other has been attacked. I had in this case the opportunity of 
examining the lungs. They were greatly congested, but presented 
no mark of real inflammation, either of the substance or the pleura. 
The brain, and membranes, and heart, were crammed with black 
blood, and there was serosity beneath the membranes of the brain 
— there was no lymph, but the membranes were a little changed 
in colour and consistence, here and there, particularly at the top of 
the spinal cord, and at the cerebellum. 
The ventricles were not distended; but Mr. A.’s people had 
again, with stupidity extreme, decapitated the animal. This calf 
had lived several days after the first attack, and had been, during the 
greater part of the time, in a state of coma. 
The liver and spleen were remarkably bloodless and flabby. 
The softening of the mucous coat of the intestines was not so marked 
as in the other case ; but I have no doubt of its existence. 
No lead, or paint, or any poison was suspected. No satisfactory 
cause of the disease has yet been so much as surmised. I confess 
that I can make nothing of the case. 
I love pathology as a study in man or beast; and, having been 
elected surgeon to our Infirmary, I have pretty good opportunity 
for observation. I know that your views, as should be the case 
with the human and the veterinary surgeon, are of a general 
and expanded nature ; and I shall be most happy to communicate 
to you and to receive from you any observations that can be useful 
in our common profession. I am, &c. 
April 6, 1839. 
3 G 
VOL. XII. 
