MR. FRIPJNDS REPLY TO MR. HARRISON. 
475 
that vascularity in them that there is in the intestines; and fre- 
*j ^ ' 
cjuently, so far as colour is concerned, they will appear quite 
healthy. You will sometimes find on these occasions that the 
lining membrane of the stomachs is very easily separable, as if 
by long maceration, and there is generally a flabbiness and want 
of that muscular firmness which appears in health ; but, as I be¬ 
fore said, the proofs of disease are not so very obvious but that 
they may escape detection from a casual observation only. 
With regard to the article in The Veterinarian for August, 
by Mr. H., it will be readily seen, that he has therein offered 
some observations on the diseases and treatment of cattle, dif¬ 
fering materially from some previously inserted in The Veteri¬ 
narian by myself; and as we both offer our remarks as the 
result of practical experience, it becomes of consequence to 
ascertain by what means conclusions so opposite have been 
arrived at from the observation of cases characterized by the same 
symptoms, attended with the same failure in treatment, and 
exhibiting the same post-mortem appearances. 
He has in his preliminary remarks taken up a shield—the motto. 
Caution. But he must recollect that, if a practitioner would 
succeed, he must ever blend promptness with caution, and vigour 
and decision with carefulness. I have said in a previous paper, 
that in all cases where we had any reason to suppose the first 
two stomachs were affected, that “ I would not rest satisfied till I 
were perfectly assured that they were effectually relieved,” and 
that, if we stopped short of this, the animal would be lost 
and I recommended 'powerf ul purgative medicine, combined with 
atrong stimulants and tonics, to effect this. Mr. H.-says, “ how we 
are to know when the stomachs are emptied of their indigestive 
mass is to me inexplicable, consequently when to refrain from 
administering them” (the medicines necessary to effect this) 
must also be unknown.” He has here voluntarily placed him¬ 
self in a dilemma, from which I am sure the smallest exertion of 
mental energy would at once have rescued him ; for if he had 
forgotten that the fseces which would be voided, coming from 
this indigested mass, must be very different in appearance from 
those which the nearly-digested contents of the intestines would 
produce, he might surely have remembered, that, with regard to 
quantity, there would necessarily be such a difference, that any 
person, with a proper attention to this very important symptom, 
could not mistake. 
Having helped him out of this difficulty, I will just notice the 
question proposed by him after judiciously stating the means 
of ascertaining disease of the rumen, reticulum, and manyplus. 
** Who will depend upon purgatives alone to restore the rurainat- 
