FIBRINOUS CASTS FROM THE INTESTINES OF A COW. 507 
he thought the matter voided was a “worm of some kind/' 
and that there was, at least, ten yards more than had been 
shown me. I observed a portion which had been trampled 
on, and partially dried by exposure to the sun, and was 
convinced his estimate was within the mark. 
The faecal matter with which it was voided scarcely left a 
stain, it was so thin and watery. Here and there, lying 
about, were small evacuations, in one of which there was 
about an inch of the supposed worm. The animal was in 
fair condition for a milch cow, and the only indication of a 
deviation from health which I could perceive, was a fulness 
and redness of the eyelids. She was so wild that I could 
only come within a few yards of her; and being away from 
her companions, she defied all our efforts to get her into a 
pen, and leaped the Barton gate and several stiff fences,, to 
escape us. 
The owner informed me that she had calved in January 
last, and that since then she had occasionallv had an attack 
of diarrhoea, to remedy "which he had bled her, and given her 
a drench containing some mustard, about a fortnight since. 
He also said that she had yielded her usual quantity of milk 
until this morning, when she only gave about a quart, and 
that shortly after being milked she commenced to scour, 
and voided the matter above described. 
My opinion was that it was the mucus in some changed 
condition; but I could not account for such a quantity being 
thrown off, and in such a form. Had the mustard anything 
to do with causing it ? 
[The specimen sent by Mr. Bovefct consisted of a quantity 
of fibrine, which had effused in a fluid condition from the 
vessels of the mucous coat of the intestines, and subsequently 
by its clotting had become moulded into the shape of the 
tube. Cases of this kind are not very uncommon among 
bovine animals, and several of them have been published by 
us from time to time. The slight deviation from health, 
and the rapidity with which the fibrine is thrown out, go to 
prove that the effusion does not depend on inflammation of the 
mucous coat of the intestines. In Mr. Bovett’s case, as in most 
others, there were but few indications of disturbed health. 
It is not improbable that the mustard might have some con¬ 
nection with the effusion, but having been administered a 
fortnight previously, it can scarcely be supposed to have acted 
as the immediate cause. 
These fibrinous casts have been described by the ignorant 
as instances of the voiding of snakes and other allied reptiles 
