Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

314 CATTLE.
acting on the food contained between them, and which, supported by
the irregularities of the cuticular coat, and imprisoned there in a
somewhat pultaceous form, will gradually become putrid and offensive.
The animal may be fed on too dry and fibrous matter, or he may
lazily and but half perform the process of rumination ; in consequence
of this, the hard parts of the food may accumulate in the manyplus
more rapidly than they can be ground down, and so the stomach
may become' clogged and its function suspended. Whatever the
cause, this state of contraction or inaction of the manyplus often
occurs, and either aggravates the pre-existing malady, or becomes a
new source of disease, and hastens or causes the death of the animal.
When this stomach has been spasmodically contracted, or long and
forcibly distended, the imprisoned food presents a very curious
appearance. There is an indentation of the papillae on the surface of
the detained mass. All this force must have produced inflammation
of the part ; and that' intense inflammation does occasionally exist in
the manyplus, sufficient to produce great and general derangement
and even to destroy the beast, is evident by the easy separation of
the cuticular coat. In many cases, or perhaps in the majority of
them, it is impossible to remove the detained mass from its situation
without a portion of the cuticular coat accompanying and covering it.
Even this hardened state of the contents of the manyplus is not
always a proof of general disease. It is an unnatural and morbid
state of the stomach ; but very considerable local disease may exist iu
this organ, without materially, or in any appreciable- degree, inter-
fering with general health and good condition. The fardel-bag has
been found choked with food, and that dry and black, and roasted,
and yet the beast had apparently been in perfect health.
The author of this treatise has seen the loss of function confined
to one part only of this stomach. Between some of the leaves, or on
one side or curvature of the manyplus, the contents have been green
and fluid ; in the other portion of it they have been perfectly baked.
It is a wise and kind provision of nature, that the general health and
thriving of the animal shall in various cases be so little impaired by
local, although serious, disease. Many a trifling circumstance, never-
theless, may cause this local evil to spread rapidly and widely ; and,
even without any additional excitement, the mere continuance of such
a disease, accompanied by such derangement of function, can scarcely
fail of being attended by injurious consequences.
This state of the manyplus is one of the most serious species of
indigestion to which these animals are subject, and deserves the attentive
consideration of the practitioner. There are, nevertheless, many
difficulties accompanying the study of this important subject.
The clue or fardel-bound, names by which the retention of the food
in the manifolds is distinguished, may be occasionally produced by
the animal feeding on too stimulatin g plants, or on those'which are