_Cause._--The cause of this disordered state of the digestive system in cattle is usually obscure, but has in some cases been traced to a partial closure of the opening into the second stomach or to a distention of the esophagus. It has been found to occur when there was cancerous disease of the fourth stomach, and experimentally it has been shown that a suspension of digestion or great derangement of this stomach produces considerable nervous disorder of the rumen and sometimes vomiting or attempts to vomit. TREATMENT.--Easily digested feed and plenty of water should be given. Fear and excitement, chasing, or hurrying animals after they have eaten heartily are liable to bring on this result. In order to overcome irritation which may produce vomiting the following draft should be given: Hydrate of chloral, half an ounce; water, 1 pint. The dose must be repeated when the condition of the animal seems to require it. As a rule, treatment is not successful. DEPRAVED APPETITE (PICA). Cattle suffering from this disease have a capricious and variable appetite as regards their ordinary feed but evince a strong desire to lick and eat substances for which healthy cattle show no inclination. Alkaline and saline-tasting substances are especially attractive to cattle having a depraved appetite and they frequently lick lime, earth, coal, gravel, and even the dung of other cattle. Cows in calf and young cattle are especially liable to develop these symptoms. Animals affected in this way lose condition, their coat is staring, gait slow, and small vesicles containing yellow liquid form under the tongue; the milk given by such cows is thin and watery. Such animals become restless and uneasy, as is indicated by frequent bellowing. The disease may last for months, the animal ultimately dying emaciated and exhausted. Depraved appetite frequently precedes the condition in which the bones of cattle become brittle and fracture easily, which is known as osteomalacia. _Cause._--From the fact that this disease is largely one of regions, it is generally believed that some condition of the soil and water and of the local vegetation is responsible for it. It is more prevalent some years than others, and is most common in old countries, where the soil is more or less depleted. Cattle pastured on low, swampy land become predisposed to it. It occasionally happens, however, that one individual in a herd suffers though all are fed alike; in such cases the disease must arise from the affected animal's imperfect assimilation of the nutritive elements of the feed which is supplied to it.