316 PAETUKIENT APOPLEXY IN COWS. 



The coldness of the legs, and scanty secretion of milk, are 

 symptoms to be specially noticed. 



In fatal cases there is a tendency to convulsions; the head 

 hangs, and death occurs within forty-eight hours of the 

 commencement of the attack. In favourable cases the dura- 

 tion of the disease is longer. There are early symptoms of 

 returning consciousness ; the limbs and body generally, how- 

 ever, are cold, and the neck and head hot. The secretion of 

 milk begins to flow, faeces and urine are discharged, and 

 with the aid of a little propping up, the standing position is 

 regained. The animal needs assistance a few times before 

 she can get up and down comfortably. 



Post-mortem Appearances. The body has every appear- 

 ance of having been well nourished. Bark-coloured blood 

 fills the blood-vessels. The womb is apt to be somewhat 

 congested. Ecchymoses are usually visible in the heart. 

 The important lesions, however, occur on the cerebro-spinal 

 system. Extravasations of blood are witnessed on the cervi- 

 cal portion of the spinal cord. Whenever the animal has 

 dropped and died very suddenly, there is a considerable clot 

 pressing on the medulla oblongata. 



I have found cases in which the nervous system indicated 

 no lesions of importance. The blood-vessels were turgid and 

 puncta-vasculosa marked. The fluid accumulated in ventricles 

 is then in excess, and the nervous tissue of the upper part of 

 the spinal cord is softened. 



Parturient apoplexy is a relapsing disorder. A cow that 

 has once had it is seized again after the birth of another 

 calf, and seized more severely than the first time. Repeated 

 attacks have occurred under the notice of able practitioners, 

 who have successfully treated cases. Mr Charles Hunting of 

 South Hetton, one of the best informed veterinarians in this 

 country, reports a case in which the apoplectic symptoms 



