473 
MR. friend’s REPI.Y TO MR. HARRISON. 
Veterinarian for May, by a veterinary practitioner, corrobo¬ 
rative (as t hope to prove) of the peculiar doctrines I then ad¬ 
vanced ; and this self-gratulation was in no way weakened when 
I read the paper, I have before mentioned, in the August number, 
by Mr. Harrison ; written with a spirit of candour, and attention 
to the interests of veterinary science generally, that I admire ; 
and with a self-confidence in his own attention and researches 
which is highly creditable to him, and without which every pro¬ 
fessional man will be weak and wavering in his conclusions. 
And while I admit that the same painful failure has attended my 
endeavours in different cases, under similar treatment to those 
so well described in his own, he will, I am sure, excuse me, 
that I have come to different conclusions from himself, and that, 
with an equal view to the benefit of the profession generally, I 
make the freest use of his remarks. 
I take it for granted, it will be admitted that, in all post-mortem 
examinations, our attention ought equally to be directed to the 
cause producing, as to the effect produced; and that it is quite 
as necessary to find out the origin, as it is to ascertain the extent 
of the lesions presenting themselves. Pursuing this principle, I 
proceed to the two cases in The Veterinarian for May; and 
1 have no hesitation in saying, that though the immediate cause 
of death might be inflammation of the mucous membrane of the 
intestines, yet that the primary and predisposing cause was 
disease of the first two stomachs : and this belief 1 conceive to be 
fully borne out as well by the symptoms and progress of the 
disease, as by the post-mortem appearances. A veterinary prac¬ 
titioner informs us, that in the first case, when he saw the bul¬ 
lock, the discharge per anum consisted only of yellow liquid 
mucus; that the cordial-tonic medicines which he administered 
produced no particular effect, and that he died on the eighth day. 
The second case varies but little in the progress of the disease, 
and in both a post-mortem examination exhibited the Jirst two 
stomachs and manyphis full. He has not mentioned the nature 
and quantity of the purgatives employed in the second case, 
though the effect, or rather want of effect, is apparent enough. 
I have long been convinced that a much greater attention to 
the first two stomachs of ruminant animals than has been gene¬ 
rally paid to them is essentially necessary. It has been a 
generally received opinion, that medicine given to cattle in a fluid 
form (and which form, in fact, constitutes the general one) does 
not enter the rumen at all, but passes through the manyplus, and 
at once enters the abomasum or true stomach : this opinion I 
combatted in an article in Tii e Veterinarian for April, and I 
believe it is generally admitted that I was correct in my theory. 
