300 
H KVIE W. CATTL E PAl* H OLOG V. 
easily susceptible of fermentation in the stomach, and more refrac¬ 
tory under its action. 
The tender and aqueous herbage of the natural meadows, and of 
which the vegetation has been rapid, is, in the early portion of the 
spring and autumn, a frequent cause of tympanitis. The animals 
pass from the austere severity of winter, or the parched soil of 
summer, to herbage in the greatest degree plentiful and succulent: 
hence gastritis and enteritis, as in due time we shall see. 
M. Grognier observes, that the fatal disease which in Auvergne 
has the name of empansement,'’ is entirely attributable to their 
having been starved during the winter, and being turned in the 
summer into the fruitful valleys of Aurillac. 
That which has been already said of artificial food, green and 
moist, is applicable to the watery grass of the meadows. This 
grass, however, is often more destructive than the artificial food, 
for it is covered with dew and with hoar-frost, which vaporise with 
great rapidity in the paunch, and dilate it to a painful or dangerous 
degree. It is likewise a matter of observation, that the depasturing 
on grass covered with hoar-frost, is a most fruitful source of abor¬ 
tion in cows and mares, whether that is to be traced to the meteor- 
ization of the paunch or the abomasum, or the large intestines, or, 
in more cases than are suspected, acute enteritis. The leaves of 
green cabbage, and all plants of that class, given in too great quan¬ 
tities, and whether freshly gathered, or wet and covered with dew, 
the animal being poor and hungry, cause the most fatal tympanitis: 
therefore M. Gelle used to recommend to his employers in La Ven¬ 
dee, where this was a frequent food for cattle, either to gather them 
some time before they were wanted, and to let them become some¬ 
what dry before they were given to the cattle, and, indeed, to lay it 
down as a constant rule, that they should always be carefully dried. 
It is also known that the papilionaceous plants, and the cereales 
especially, are often injurious if incautiously given. They suspend 
the digestive and contractile power of the paunch—they surcharge 
this stomach,—they distend it. They suspend the act of rumina¬ 
tion there—they ferment—they agglomerate—they become hard 
and dry, and form masses which no mucilaginous or demulcent 
drinks can dissolve, nor will any ammonia or ether condense the 
gases which they disengage during their fermentation. Acorns 
will occasionally produce the same effect. 
Potatoes, when they begin to germinate, are very dangerous. 
M. Gelle has seen several instances of the ill effect produced by 
them. The straggling shoots are the most pernicious. He par¬ 
ticularly relates the case of a hog that died in consequence of eating 
some of them that were thrown on a dung-heap. The symptoms 
