DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 193 



period. If you keep the bowels active there is more blood going to 

 those parts than there would be in constipated cases, and flows more 

 freel}', while in constipation you have a diminished quantity of 

 blood in the bowels. If you give a dose of drastic physic the flow 

 of blood from the other parts of the system to the bowels will soon 

 be indicated. Aloes or a dose of salts will often accompli.-.h this. 

 In this waN' a dose of plnsic relieves a heada(^he. You all know, 

 and ladies especiall}', that a good cathartic pill is the best dose in 

 the world to get rid of a headache. Take a good sharp purge that 

 will make the bowels move, and the blood will leave the head and go 

 to the bowels. In the case of cows we have everv varietv of condi- 

 tion from one that does not suffer at all to the one that will fall, 

 never to rise again, of milk fever. There are a few axioms in vet- 

 erinary practice that should not be lost sight of. The earlier the 

 cow comes down with milk fever the more likely is the disease to be 

 fatal. An apoplexy or a milk fever stroke that takes a cow within 

 the first six hours, if fat and fine, as man}' are, has but slight chance 

 of recover}'. The first questions I ask a farmer that comes to me 

 in such a case are, '••when did the cow calve? when did she show 

 weakness and inability to stand? is she a fine cow, a thoroughbred 

 Jersey or Shorthorn?" If she is such a cow, and the symptoms [ 

 have mentioned followed soon after the dropping of the calf. I am 

 obliged to sav to the owner, "I hardlv think I can save vour ani- 

 mal " "Why? Because I am afraid that the changes that have taken 

 place at the base of the brain are such that I cannot relieve her. I 

 therefore catch my knapsack of medicine and hasten to the cow as 

 quickly as possible, that we may see her before the fatal change has 

 taken place. Now for the treatment. As the disease is caused by 

 a determination of blood to the head, you readily see the physiologi- 

 cal indications. It is so plain, in fact, that you will never forget this 

 point. If now by throwing that blood back into the system the ves- 

 sels are so full that the blood cannot circulate without some danger, 

 you would expect to find a hot head, horns, and ears in the majority 

 of cases. For a common sense view of treatment the good lady of 

 the house, suffering in that wav, would sav, "Give me some cam- 

 phor to cool my head." Why do camphor, ether, alcohol and 

 various other things of that kind cool a person's head when thus 

 applied ? If you never thought of it before, you may say it is a 

 good deal of a philosophical question. But the answer is very sim- 

 ple. Water sitting on the stove evaporates. It took heat to drive 



