REPORTS OF CASES. 
555 
a state ot disintegration. The bladder was empty, thickened 
and contracted. On examining the contents of the rumen I 
found a piece of whitish substance about the size and shape 
of my thumb, which I at first thought was a piece of a root. 
On cutting it up, however, 1 found it to be a white, streaky, 
structureless substance, more like a piece of a wax candle 
than anything else. 
Just then the foreman from the quarry came over to see 
what was going on, and the minute he saw what I was whit¬ 
tling yelled at me to stop. What I had been paring was the 
head of a dynamite cartridge. It need not be mentioned that 
it was at once very tenderly laid in the bottom of the grave 
which had been dug for the cow. 
It seems that dynamite, when kept long, has a tendency to 
become hard and dry, in which condition it does not explode 
so effectually as when soft and moist. Consequently before 
using them the laborers set the cartridges out in the sun for 
a while, and it was in this way they came within reach of the 
cows. 
The owner asked what he should do in the event of any 
more of his cows being taken with the same trouble. I told 
him the chief thing for him to do was to have the quarry 
fenced off, but that in such cases benefit could be had by giv¬ 
ing large quantities of milk, eggs and flour gruel. 
Next morning the owner turned out the cows as usual, 
thinking he could keep an eye on them, and herded them 
away from the quarry. But before he could realize what 
was taking place, a sly old cow had sneaked over to the ledge 
and right before his eyes picked up a fourteen-ounce dyna¬ 
mite cartridge, and although they chased her to try and take 
it from her she munched it as she ran and swallowed it all. 
They lost no time in getting to work, and for the next ten 
days the cow got milk galore and eggs without number. She, 
like the others, became quite sick and remained so for several 
weeks, but gradually improved and made a good recover}'. 
I have never heard of dynamite being used as a medicine, and 
for that matter would hardly relish the idea of having it in 
my medicine case ; but that it is at least a powerful diuretic 
