INFLAMMATION OF THE OMASUM OF A COW. 511 
two o^clock in the morning of the 23rd, when death put an 
end to her sufferings. 
On my arrival to make the pod-mortem, the carcase was cut 
up, and the omasum removed for my inspection, the owner 
thinking that it was all which required to be looked at. I found 
the lungs healthy, but much congested. The heart presented 
a black-mottled appearance, but the pericardium appeared 
unchanged in structure. The rumen was filled with half- 
digested food, which, on removing, small pieces of coagulated 
blood were seen, like worms, upon its roughened surface. 
The reticulum was apparently healthy. The abomasum was 
also inflamed, and the bowels slightly so. They contained fluid 
ingesta. The omasum I have sent for your own inspection. 
The brain was so much injured in cutting the horns off, that 
I could not judge of its condition. 
Remarks. —The field in which this cow with the others was 
turned, is situated on the side of a hill, at the bottom of which 
the river Tame runs. The herbage is considered to be of the 
best quality, and contains nothing, in our opinion, of a dele¬ 
terious nature. There is a pond of w’ater in the field. The river 
w'ater is mixed with all kinds of deleterious matters, and to 
such an extent that no fish will live in it. Of late years, the 
water of several gas w T orks and the factories from Birmingham 
has been emptied into it. The cows sometimes drink from 
the river, although there is other water, as stated, which is 
available for the purpose. The meadows were flooded by 
the overflowing of the river several times during the winter, 
besides which it not unfrequently flow s over the grass grow¬ 
ing on the side of the stream and the low places adjacent. The 
only manure used upon the meadow is of the best quality, 
brought from Birmingham. 
Do you imagine that the disease arose from the animal 
drinking at the river, or is it only an aggravated case of oma- 
sitis arising from ordinary causes ? 
[The omasum which we received in due course from Mr. 
Wood, was filled to repletion with ingesta that had evidently 
been retained for some time, w ithout undergoing little or any 
softening from the secretion of the viscus. The coats of the 
stomach w r ere deeply reddened from inflammation, but there 
was nothing in the appearance of the parts to lead to the sup¬ 
position that any special cause had given rise to the morbid 
action. It is to be regretted that Mr. Wood did not send 
us the other stomachs, that w T e might have come to a better 
conclusion on the point which he has referred to us. 
G. W. V.] 
