)

For small hernias nitric acid may be used to destroy the skin and cause
such swelling as to close the orifice before the skin is separated. For a
mass like a large goose egg one-half ounce of the acid may be rubbed in for
three minutes. No more must be applied for 15 days. For large masses this
is inapplicable, and with too much loss of skin the orifice may fail to
close and the bowels may escape.

The application of a clamp like those used in castration is a most
effective method, but great care must be taken to see that all the contents
of the sac are returned so that none may be inclosed in the clamp. (Pl.
XXIV, fig. 7.)

Another most effective resort is to make a saturated solution of common
salt, filter and boil it, and when cool inject under the skin (not into the
sac) on each side of the hernia a dram of the fluid. A bandage may then be
put around the body. In 10 hours an enormous swelling will have taken
place, pressing back the bowel into the abdomen. When this subsides the
wound will have closed.

DROPSY OF THE NAVEL.

A sac formed at the navel, by contained liquid accumulated by reason of
sucking by other calves, is unsightly and sometimes injurious. After making
sure that it is simply a dropsical collection it may be deeply punctured at
various points with a large-sized lancet or knife, fomented with hot water,
and then daily treated with a strong decoction of white-oak bark.

BLUE DISEASE (CYANOSIS).

This appearing in the calf at birth is due to the orifice between the two
auricles of the heart (foramen ovale) remaining too open, allowing the
nonaerated (venous) blood to mix with the aerated (arterial) blood, and it
is beyond the reach of treatment. It is recognized by the blueness of the
eyes, nose, mouth, and other mucous membranes, the coldness of the surface,
and the extreme sensitiveness to cold.

CONSTIPATION.

At birth the bowels of the calf contain the meconium, a tenacious, gluey,
brownish-yellow material largely derived from the liver, which must be
expelled before they can start their functions normally. The first milk of
the cow (colostrum, beestings), rich in albumin and salts, is nature's
laxative to expel this now offensive material and should never be withheld
from the calf. If, for lack of this, from the dry feeding of the cow, or
from any other cause, the calf is costive, straining violently without
passage, lying down and rising as in colic, and failing in appetite, no