FOREIGN BODIES IN THE INTESTINES OF RUMINANTS.
Foreign bodies are usually arrested in the rumen of cattle and unless sharp, pointed or rough so as to cause mechanical trouble or caustic so as to act chemically, rarely do much harm. The most extraordinary objects that have found their way into the intestine are snakes. Gherardi claims that he found in the intestines a snake of 25 inches long; Jager found one of 21 inches in length, in an advanced state of decomposition, in the rectum of a calf. It is supposed that both had been taken in with the food. In each case there was obstruction of the intestine with severe colicy symptoms.