If the calves must be reared by hand, the mixed milk should at least be boiled or relatively pasteurised by heating to 70° or 80° C., and the buckets used for feeding should be kept scrupulously clean. These precautions become absolutely necessary when diarrhœa exists amongst the calves. Curative treatment consists in placing the animals on low diet for two or three days after the attack of indigestion, or in giving them boiled milk diluted with from one-half to two-thirds of boiled water. The addition of a mild saline purgative like sulphate of soda, in doses of one-half to three-quarters of an ounce, usually ensures a cure. Infusions of lime-tree flowers, peppermint, camomile, etc., may advantageously be used to replace boiled water in diluting the first foods. ACUTE GASTRIC INDIGESTION IN SWINE. =The causes= comprise putrid food, swill, spoilt turnips, potatoes, apples, succulent vegetables, frozen food, and the admixture of caustic alkaline powders (used in washing table dishes) with the swill. Indigestible matters—hoof, horn, hair, bristles, tree bark, etc.—when not rejected by vomiting, cause gastritis and indigestion. Lastly, medicinal substances and poisons, paint and lead, sometimes produce the disease. Among the symptoms may be mentioned dulness, arching of the back, standing with the feet brought together, erection of the bristles, hiding under the litter, grunting, uneasiness, shifting from place to place, tenseness of the abdominal wall, borborygmus; these may be followed by diarrhœa and recovery. Speedier relief is afforded by copious vomiting of irritant matters. =The treatment= should commence with the free administration of emetics. To combat alkaline poisoning vinegar may be given, followed by a laxative. Prophylaxis calls for greater care in feeding. CHAPTER V. ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE GASTRIC COMPARTMENTS. RUMENITIS—RETICULITIS—GASTRITIS. =Causation.= Acute primary inflammation of the first gastric reservoirs, viz., the rumen and reticulum, is not common. It sometimes accompanies such infectious disorders as foot-and-mouth disease, gangrenous coryza, etc., but then constitutes an added phenomenon which should be studied along with the original disease itself. Rumenitis or reticulitis may however follow the ingestion of irritant foods or plants, of very hot liquids, and more frequently still of unskilfully compounded medicines. In such cases the mucous membrane is directly attacked, and pathological congestion, infiltration, and desquamation may follow, or even vesicles and ulcerations may rapidly be formed.