438 
REVIEW.—CATTLE PATHOLOGY. 
fourth stomach, nor with the rest of the small intestines, since it is 
limited and separated by the pyloric and intestinal openings—• 
since it receives the excretory canals of the pancreas and of the 
liver, and its mucous membrane is the seat of a follicular and per¬ 
spiratory secretion more abundant than in any other part of the 
intestine. For these reasons, and on account of the importance 
and the speciality of their functions, it is difficult, in the actual 
state of the science of veterinary diagnosis, to separate the descrip¬ 
tion of gastritis from that of duodenitis. We therefore think our¬ 
selves authorized in comprehending them in the same tableau; 
besides, every distinction on this subject would be useless, since 
the two maladies require the same treatment. We shall also see, 
that in the greater number of cases the physiological observations 
coincide with those which pathology suggests. 
Some persons will, perhaps, be surprised that we have not devoted 
separate articles to the diseases of the reticulum and those of the 
manyplus, before we described those of the abomasum ; but we have 
no certain and positive history of the diseases of these stomachs, 
or whether, indeed, they are susceptible of being separately in¬ 
flamed. Medical science is yet deficient on this point; neverthe¬ 
less we shall see, by and by, that inflammation of the manyplus is 
sometimes a consequence of that of the paunch, as well as that of 
the abomasum, and that inflammation of the third stomach occa¬ 
sionally produces a serious complication of disease by the fact of the 
drying and hardening of the food which it contains, and the pres¬ 
sure which it exercises on the oesophagean canal. 
It will be right, perhaps, in order to treat methodically the sub¬ 
ject of gastro-enteritis in ruminants, that we should point out the 
divers and numerous causes by which it may be produced—the 
nature of the inflamnration—its acute, sub-acute, and chronic states, 
and also its simple and complicated state, and all the shades of differ¬ 
ence which make the diagnosis and the cure more or less difficult. 
These descriptions will always be founded on practical facts. 
The causes of these affections are sometimes inappreciable, and 
their action depends on a great number of circumstances, and of 
individual predispositions, the nature of which escapes our closest 
investigation. In the majority of cases, however, if we closely 
examine the patient, the cause wall be sufficiently plain. The 
lymphatic temperament of the ox—the peculiar structure of his 
stomachs—the immense quantity of food which they often con¬ 
tain—the peculiar mode of digestion, these will generally afford us 
some clue to the predisposing cause of the disease, especially if 
the animal is in a state of domesticity. 
This portion of our subject, however, requires deeper considera¬ 
tion. The causes of gastro-enteritis are. 
