472 
MK. friend’s reply TO MR. HARRISON. 
to be the case, viz., that the contents of this gut after death arc 
fluid ; but Mr. Blaine attaches far greater import to it; he says, 
second edition, p. 229, Upon the slightest inspection there 
appears a great peculiarity in the formation of the caecum in the 
horse ; and on a more attentive view we are struck with its evi¬ 
dent importance in this animal, and are led to consider it as little 
less than a second stomach, and which, in fact, is the case; for 
the food, or more properly the macerated mass of the small intes¬ 
tines, mixed with the biliary and pancreatic juices, here under¬ 
goes some further change; and for this purpose the caecum has 
clearly a structure favourable to its detention within it, and to 
the circulation of this mass throughout all its parts.” 
Does not the present case go far to corroborate the view taken 
by Mr. Blaine, in attaching so much importance to this portion 
of the digestive apparatus?—I think it clearly shews that the 
mischief was occasioned in endeavouring to accomplish that 
which the stomach in its excited state was incapable of perform- 
ing* ======== 
OBSERVATIONS ON MR. HARRISON’S PAPER ^‘ON 
THE USE AND ABUSE OF PURGATIVES IN THE 
DISEASES OF CATTLE,” AND ON THE EFFECTS 
OF PURGATIVES ON THE TWO FIRST STOMACHS 
OF CATTLE. 
Bi/ Mr. Friend, U.S'., Walsall. 
I DID intend in the July number to olfer you a few remarks on 
two papers which appeared in The Veterinarian for May, 
on diseases of the digestive viscera of cattle; but a severe domestic 
calamity prevented me from turning my attention to the subject 
then; and it is only because I felt roused by the perusal of an 
article in the last Veterinarian on “ Use and abuse of strong 
Purgatives in the Diseases of Cattle,” that I venture the follow¬ 
ing observations:— 
It has always appeared to me that our treatment of ruminant 
animals for internal disease can alone be successful when it is 
based on a thorough acquaintance with the physiology of their 
digestive organs, and of that complicated portion of them, the 
four stomachs, more particularly. 
In The Veterinarian for April, I made some observations 
on these viscera in ruminants, not generally understood or ad¬ 
mitted ; and as it is cheering to find, after having stepped out of 
the old and well-worn track, that though we may have altered 
our route, yet that we have not missed of the object aimed at, 
so, I assure you, I felt pleased when I saw the two cases in The 
