322 
RUPTURE OF THE PERICARDIUM. 
practice or experience of others to help him out? And though 
he may not be able to save the patient, yet the very knowledge 
of this circumstance, coupled with the fact of his being aware of 
the chances of disorganization in certain parts of the animal 
frame, will give him a deserved consequence with his employers, 
and entitle him to such a share of their confidence as he might 
find it difficult otherwise to obtain. 
In the second place, it is one which was likely to have occupied 
the attention of a court of justice; and, as I should in that case 
have been obliged to state my opinion publicly, I do it now with¬ 
out hesitation, for it may possibly serve some of the profession 
at a future time, who may be employed in a litigated case, con¬ 
nected with cattle practice, as something to refer to, by way of 
precedent; and I will not do your readers the injustice to sup¬ 
pose that they would be inclined to slight the end on such an 
occasion, because the means were humble. 
In the next place, I do it for the purpose of introducing a 
medicine which I gave in this case, and which I never remember 
to have seen or heard recommended for the purposes for which 
1 give it, but which I have found the most efficacious of any 
that the whole range of the materia medica has afforded me, for 
stimulating the digestive system generally, increasing the appe¬ 
tite, and restoring the very important function of suspended ru¬ 
mination. It is pulv. cantharidis, in doses of fifteen to twenty 
grains, combined with carbonate ammon. from jj to jij : these, with 
ginger and gentian (medicines commonly used for the purpose), 
will be found on trial so valuable, that 1 feel sure that I do not 
arrogate to myself more than those who have the opportunity of 
giving it a fair trial will willingly award me, when I say that I 
anticipate in some little degree the thanks of that part of the pro¬ 
fession who are engaged in cattle practice for its public in¬ 
troduction. 
In the last place, I do it to substantiate a fact in the pathology 
of cattle that I have frequently noticed, viz. that so powerful is 
the digestive system in them, and so capable, in a state of health, 
of supplying waste and repair, that disorganization, even in the 
most vital parts, may go on to an astonishing extent without 
affecting life, and even sometimes without interfering materially 
with the actual improvement in the condition of the animal. I 
have seen large abscesses in the liver of a fat cow killed by the 
butcher, and other affections of the same kind that could not 
co-exist in the horse with the necessity for that active exertion 
that is generally required of him. Further to illustrate this, I 
subjoin the following case of ^ i 
