132 TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF THE UDDER 



essential to the abundant secretion of good milk. Animals 

 which are to milk well must accordingly be well fed. Their 

 diet must contain a sufficient proportion especially of 

 albuminoids and fatty matters, which furnish the casein and 

 cream of the milk. There are no drugs of much practical 

 value as galactagogues, or inereasers of milk. Jarborandi 

 exerts only a temporary effect. Many drugs, however, pass 

 into the milk, communicating to it their flavour and medici- 

 nal properties. Volatile oils promptly taste the milk of any 

 animal to which they are given. Fixed oils and salines 

 administered to milking mothers, purge the sucking offspring. 

 Acids, diuretics, opiates, potassium iodide, arsenic, and other 

 active drugs given to suckling mothers frequently exhibit 

 notable effects on their susceptible progeny. 



By careful selection of good milking breeds, and by suit- 

 able management, the quantity of milk yielded by first-class 

 dairy cows is many times that obtained from cattle in their 

 natural or semi-feral state, which furnish only sufficient for 

 the rearing of one calf. But the highly developed mammary 

 organs of these improved dairy animals become increasingly 

 susceptible to disease, and less amenable to treatment. 

 Acute inflammation, usually of bacterial origin, frequently 

 attacks the udder, causing much constitutional disturbance, 

 and necessitating the administration of purgatives, and 

 febrifuges, and the application of antiseptics. In order to 

 relieve its weight, the inflamed udder should be suspended by 

 a broad web passed over the loins, and provided with holes 

 for the teats. The web will conveniently support a light 

 poultice of spent hops, or an antiseptic compress, which is 

 often advantageously applied. A teat-syphon is generally 

 useful to withdraw the milk or exudate, and to introduce 

 disinfectants. The inflamed parts are dressed with bella- 

 donna, which paralyses the terminations of the nerves, and 

 slightly diminishes lacteal secretion ; and also relieves 

 tension, lessens pain, and relaxes the sphincters of the teats. 



With the view of hastening the drying of cows, belladonna 

 is sometimes applied topically to the udder, and is also 

 administered ; but as milk secretion is not entirely depend- 

 ent on nerve influence, atropine and belladonna, which act 

 only on nerve-endings, are of little real value for this purpose. 



