126 GENERAL THERAPEUTICS FOR VETERINARIANS 



six healthy cows of different breeds, namely, Dutch, Dithmarsch, 

 Simmenthaler, Swiss, Wilstermarsch and Shorthorn, and on two 

 healthy goats, were also entirely negative. Fingerling (Landw. 

 Versuchstat., 1907) found in his experiments with goats that odor- 

 ous and tasty substances increased the secretion of the milk gland, 

 while others do not; for instance, the addition of oil of fennel or of 

 sodium chloride to mixed feed increases the fat per cent, as well 

 as the quantity of milk, but the addition of arsenic has no effect. 

 According to Kronacher (Berl. Tierarztl. Woch., 1910) the milk 

 secretion is increased by yohimbin. 



The explanation of the contradictory results of these experi- 

 mental investigations is perhaps to be found in the following cir- 

 cumstances. It is to be noted first of all that the experiments of 

 all of the investigators were made on healthy animals. In practice, 

 however, the galactagogues are not administered to healthy but to 

 diseased animals. As is well known, the action of a drug upon 

 a healthy animal is often different from its action on a diseased 

 animal. The failure of a drug to act on healthy animals does not 

 prove it to be ineffective on diseased animals. This very impor- 

 tant principle has often been overlooked in therapeutics. The 

 value of the bitters as stomachics, for example, would have to be 

 denied, if this principle is not accepted, because they have an indif- 

 ferent effect on normal digestion. Empiricism teaches that the 

 bitters possess a superior gastric action only in disturbed digestion, 

 and this is confirmed by clinical experiments. An entirely similar 

 condition exists with regard to the antipyretics, which, as is well 

 known, only reduce an elevated and not the normal body temper- 

 ature. It should not, therefore, be assumed that the galacta- 

 gogues are without effect in disturbed lactation because of the nega- 

 tive results of experiments on healthy animals. Furthermore, 

 some observers have actually obtained positive results from the 

 administration of galactagogues to healthy animals. 



Drugs. — 1. *Antimonii sulphidum. Black sulphide of antimony. 

 A much-used galactagogue in agalactia of cows and goats. Dose 

 for cows, 10-25, Sijss to vj ; goats, 1-2, grs. xv to xxx. 



2. Sulphur lotum, sulphur praecipitatum, sulphur sublimatum. 



