HOVEN IN CATTLE. 
549 
with a message that her cows had got into the clover, and that one 
of them was hoven. Before I could get there, or the cow could be got 
home to the yard, she dropped on the road and died. Two others 
I found blown up immensely in the yard. I told Mrs. Hunt that 
though I had plenty of other remedies with me, yet I should wish 
her to manage those two herself, and I w r ould shew her how, and 
then she would know another time what to do herself, and what to 
tell her neighbours to do in the same difficulty. I then desired her 
to get me about a pound and a half of lard and a three-pint or a 
two-quart jug, and to put the lard into the jug and fill it up with 
hot water, and when it was melted and cool enough, I ordered the 
men to give half of it out of a horn or bottle to each cow, and then to 
hold the cow’s head out straight while I pressed moderately heavily 
on the left side of the body, where the stomach blows up most; in 
about a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes afterwards they were 
able to walk about, and nearly all the gas had subsided, partly by 
escape up the throat, and partly by the action of the lard on the 
coats of the stomach. As they were going on comfortably, I left 
them, and they did very well. 
The next case is one that, I think, will carry with it a very strong 
evidence of the value of this plan of relief. About a month back 
the cowman at Mrs. Gostlings, Whitton Place, came in a very 
great hurry and told me he had got several of his cows hoven, and 
wished me to see them as soon as possible; he said they had only 
been out two hours in a fresh piece of grass that had been shut 
up a fortnight. As soon as he perceived it he came away for me; 
and while he and my man were putting a horse into a gig, I put 
into it what medicines were necessary, and a flexible tube, and 
was not more than two minutes in starting; and although I had 
less than a mile to drive to the cows, when we got there, three of 
them were quite dead, and five more blown up so that they would 
not move, and they required earnest persuasion with the whip to 
keep them on their legs. I ordered them to be moved as well as 
they could into the cow-yard close by, and then determined, in this 
desperate case, to use my remedy. I therefore sent the butler into 
the kitchen to get about a pound and a half or two pounds of lard, 
and to put it into a three quart jug with two quarts of hot water, 
and to bring it to me moderately hot. While he was gone, I gave 
one of the worst cases some castor and linseed oil, with the cajeput 
oil and spt. ether, nit. and left one of the worst for the lard, and 
one also not quite so bad as the first for the same; to the other 
next worst I gave the oil, and to the fifth I gave the lard. As 
soon as I had given them their doses, I had their heads held out 
straight, and their stomachs well pressed down for some time (by 
two men spreading their hands out wide over the highest part 
VOL. XXII. 4 D 
