420 USE AND ABUSE OF STRONG PURGATIVES IN CATTLE. 
see the cow, and found her in a state bad enough : from what 
they informed me, I found the report of the salts and oil, not 
operating, to be incorrect; for, before he got home with the last 
medicine, she had commenced purging; yet, notwithstanding this 
circumstance, he forced the other four"doses into the poor ani¬ 
mal, and the consequences were, what might naturally be ex¬ 
pected under such circumstances, violent purgation; indeed, 
she purged to such a degree, that the watery faeces appeared to 
be voided involuntarily. The horns, ears, and extremities, were 
cold, and she was evidently fast sinking under its effects, and 
would ultimately have done so, had I not changed my system, 
by rallying the overpowered efforts of nature ; but how to ac¬ 
complish this I was for some time at a loss. Tonics, astringents, 
in fact the whole materia medica, passed in review before my 
eyes. Practice urged me to give astringents, but prudence 
whispered restoratives, which finally conquered ; and by adminis¬ 
tering aniseeds, caraway-seeds, ginger, gentian, &c., in good ale 
porridge, we rallied the expiring efforts of nature, and in less 
than a week she commenced eating, and rumination was 
restored. 
Upon a review of these cases only, strong purgatives appear 
to possess their evil as well as good properties, but of the two, 
I am inclined to think the former is predominant; and experience 
has since, in similar cases, borne me out in thinking, that, had I 
placed less dependence upon purgatives, and relied more strongly 
upon stimulants, the first three mentioned cases would have 
recovered; and still more so, now I am well acquainted with the 
cruel method of feeding these truly useful animals through a 
long and stormy winter, during which period every organ of the 
body becomes debilitated, and no particular organ so likely or 
liable to suffer from its severities as the stomachs themselves, 
which are daily and hourly in immediate contact with and under 
the benumbing influence of bad and indigestible, and conse¬ 
quently debilitating, food. 
Where purgatives are required, I find it the best, and it appears 
the most reasonable, practice to administer them in alterative 
doses ; and, where no febrile symptom intervenes to prevent 
their use, in combination with stimulants and aromatics; but by 
no means to persevere in their use after the intestines have be¬ 
come acted upon and purgation commenced, which is the object 
you want to accomplish ; and, having done so, should rumina¬ 
tion still be suspended, rouse the overpowered and exhausted 
eflbrts of the stomachs by stimulants, which will afford relief to 
the poor afflicted animals, when purgatives would destroy, of 
which fact the most ignorant cowleech aj)pears to be well aware; 
