VETERINARY SURGEON COMES. 491 



some time there are no signs of the young creature, then diiEculty 

 in birth should be apprehended, and skilled assistance should be 

 sent for. Until it arrives, the parent should be kept quiet, and 

 gruel, or other light sustaining food, offered from time to time, to 

 keep up her strength. If the amateur has sufficient knowledge 

 and confidence, an examination might be made, the hand and arm 

 being smeared with oil ; but on no account should forcible attempts 

 to extract the young creature be resorted to. If the head or one 

 or both fore-legs be doubled back, then the indication is to bring 

 them forward into the passage; if the hind-quarters present, and 

 the hocks only are in the passage, then the buttocks should be 

 pushed forward, so that the legs can be extended, and the feet 

 carried outwards. Beyond these directions we cannot go, as there 

 is perhaps no more difiicult section of the veterinary surgeon's art 

 than that pertaining to the delivery of animals in parturition; and 

 we have before us hundreds of instances of valuable mares, cows, 

 sows, and bitches, which were tortured and lost through amateur 

 efforts to extract the young. Only too often this interference ren- 

 ders what would be an easily remedied mal-presentation by the 

 veterinary surgeon, one altogether beyond hope. 



And even when birth has taken place the danger is not over. 

 The membranes (afterbirth) must come away soon after the young 

 creature, and when they are retained too long serious consequences 

 may ensue. Their removal also requires the intervention of the 

 veterinary surgeon, though the injection of warm water, and gentle 

 traction at the portion which is accessible, may enable the owner of 

 the animal to effect their displacement. 



The cow is specially liable, after giving birth, to what is known 

 as " dropping after calving " (parturient apoplexy) : a serious con- 

 dition, which, in the great majority of cases, runs a rapidly fatal 

 course. The symptoms appear within from one to four or five 

 days after calving, and the earliest is the diminution in the quan- 

 tity of milk ; the animal then appears to be dull, does not eat or 

 ruminate, becomes uneasy, and stamps with the hind feet; soon 

 the breathing is quickened ; staggering is observed, and she falls, 

 and rapidly lapses into a deep coma, after throwing her head about 

 wildly. Cows which are " deep milkers " should always be watched 

 for this disease, and whenever the earliest symptoms appear a good 

 dose of purgative medicine should be given, combined with a stimu- 

 lant — as alcohol, or spirits of ammonia — and cold water applied in 

 a full stream to the head. Medicine must be given promptly, for 

 in a short time the power of swallowing is lost. 



Contagious Diseases. — Contagious diseases are generally so 

 serious when they appear among animals, and the ravages of some 

 of them are so great, that every one who keeps such animals 



