MILK FEVER. 75 



Mr. Wardle, of East Sheen, says, in the abstract 

 of the Proceedings of the Veterinary Medical As- 

 sociation for 1841, page 155, "Unfortunately the 

 majority of cases that have come under my notice 

 have proved fatal." 



Mr. Mayer, jr., of Newcastle-nnder-Lyne, says, 

 at page 160 of the same volume, " It is very fatal, 

 aiv.l in some districts, considered so incurable that 

 the animal when taken is generally destroyed." 



Mr. Simonds, professor at the London Veteri- 

 nary College, says, in the same volume, page 160, 

 " It seemed to be the very acme of all the ills 

 with which the lower animals were affected, bid- 

 ding defiance to all varieties of treatment adopted, 

 and terminating almost always in death." 



From the above testimony, then, the extreme 

 fatality of the disease, when treated in accord- 

 ance with the old system, is admitted without any 

 hesitation. The two parties best qualified to 

 know, viz., veterinary surgeons of the old school 

 who vise the remedies, and farmers who lose their 

 cows, can bear witness to the inefficiency of the 

 ordinary treatment. 



Causes. There are certain circumstances which 

 exercise a peculiar influence upon the body, and 

 make the cow more liable to take this disease 

 than she would otherwise be. These are called 

 the predisposing causes. Thus fat stall-fed cows, 

 which give a large supply of milk, are apter to 

 take milk-fever than poor cows ; cows are more 

 liable to drop after calving at the fourth, fifth 

 and six periods, the latter being the time when 

 the disease is the most severe and dangerous ; one 

 attack leaves a liability to have another ; the com- 

 plaint is most common in the summer and the 

 fall, when the weather is variable, etc., 



