may be sustained by coffee or camphor.

The body should be warmly clothed, and it is advisable, when practicable,
to have a blanket which has been wrung out of hot water placed over the
abdomen, then covered by several dry blankets, which are maintained in
position by straps or ropes passing round the body. The wet blanket must be
changed as it cools--the object of treatment being to warm the surface of
the body and to determine as much blood to the skin as possible. The diet
should consist of laxative food and drinks, such as linseed tea. If
peritonitis assumes chronic form the diet should be nutritious, such as
selected clover hay, linseed cake, grass, etc., and iodid of potassium
should be given three times a day in gram doses dissolved in a pint of
water.

DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN (ASCITES).

In this disease there is a serous, or watery, effusion in the cavity of the
abdomen.

_Causes._--When old animals are fed on innutritious feed or when reduced by
disease, they become anemic; in other words, their blood becomes
impoverished and dropsy may follow. An innutritious and insufficient diet
produces the same effect in young animals. It is one of the results of
peritonitis, and may also arise from acute or chronic inflammation of the
liver, such as is of common occurrence when flukes are present in the liver
in large numbers. Heart disease and chronic lung disease may be followed by
ascites. It is sometimes, in calves, a symptom of infestation with worms.

_Symptoms._--A gradual increase in the size of the abdomen at its lower
part, while the flanks becomes hollow; pallor of the mucous membrane of the
mouth and eye; weak and sluggish gait; want of appetite, and irregularity
in ruminating. On percussion or tapping the surface of the abdomen with the
fingers, a dull sound is produced. If the hand and arm are oiled and passed
into the rectum as far as possible, on moving the hand from one side to the
other the fluctuation caused by the presence of fluid in the abdomen may be
felt.

_Treatment._--If possible the cause must be discovered and removed. The
diet should be nutritious, and in those cases in which we have merely to
deal with anemia (the bloodless state) arising from insufficient diet, the
use of tonics and diuretics, at the same time keeping the skin warm, may
bring about a gradual absorption of the fluid contained in the abdomen. One
of the following powders may be mixed with the animal's feed three times a