ADMINISTERING MEDICINE.
The stomach into which medicines are to be administered is the fourth, or digesting stomach. The comparatively insensible walls of the rumen, or paunch, are but slightly acted upon, except by doses of very improper magnitude. Medicine, to reach the fourth stomach, should be given in a state as nearly approaching fluidity as may be. Even then it may be given in such a manner as to defeat the object in view.
If the animal forcibly gulps fluids down, or if they are given hastily and bodily, they will follow the caul at the base of the gullet with considerable momentum, force asunder the pillars, and enter the rumen; if they are drunk more slowly, or administered gently, they will trickle down the throat, glide over these pillars, and pass on through the maniplus to the true stomach.