MAMMITIS. 639 



lias been inactive — in mares with foals at their feet, and in 

 others which had never been pregnant. The exciting causes 

 may be general or local. To the former belong irregularities of 

 diet, a tendency to the disease termed lymphangitis or weed, 

 frequent recurrence of the periods of oestrum ; and to the latter, 

 contusions, the direct application of cold, and external injury. 

 Cows are subject to it, when in a plethoric condition at the time 

 of parturition, or if the animal be turned to a rich pasturage, 

 when the organ is in high activity. The last cause is a very 

 common one, and acts by stimulating an organ in an already high 

 state of activity ; and it is an example of a healthy congestion 

 being transformed into an inflammation by over-stimulation. 



Inflammation of the mammary gland is also very frequently 

 caused by a cruel practice called "hefting," or "over-stocking." 

 This consists in the preparation of the cow for show or market, 

 by allowing her to go unmilked until the mammary gland 

 becomes fearfully distended with its secretion, in order that the 

 milk vessel may have what is considered a fine appearance. 

 'Not contented with allowing the gland to become filled until it 

 can no longer contain the milk, the natural provision for relief, 

 namely " spontaneous flow of milk," is prevented by plugging 

 the teats with cobbler's wax or gutta-percha. ^ Some scoundrels 

 go even farther than this. They have a mould made to resemble 

 a most symmetrical udder, with the teats in a perfect position, 

 which is fastened below the udder, the animal being put in a 

 frame made for the purpose, and as the gland becomes distended 

 with milk it is thus moulded into the required shape. This is a 

 species of cruelty that the law of the land ought to suppress. 

 It is often followed by violent inflammation, resulting in the 

 obliteration of one or more quarters of the gland, or even by 

 gangrene. 



Cows giving no milk, when being fattened for the butcher, 

 frequently suffer from a modified form of mammitis, which re- 

 tards the process of fattening very materially. This is caused 

 by the retention of some milk in the gland, where it becomes 

 curdled, and acts as an irritant. There is a very cruel but very 

 eflective method for the prevention and cure of this in some 



^ Latterly a more artistic method has been discovered, and is extensively prac- 

 tised. The process consists in covering the teat, after it is first manipulated into 

 proper shape, by a solution of white gutta-percha or collodion, which rapidly dry 

 and render the flow of the milk impossible. 



