PARTURIENT APOPLEXY.— PARTURIENT COLLAPSE. 667 



force conveyed by these nerves and the muscular irritability, and conse- 

 quently an obstacle to the conductibility of the nerves charged with the 

 distribution of this superfluous portion of the nerve force. Barlow thought 

 that this disturbance in the function of the sympathetic nerves produces 

 arrest of secretion and general congestion, especially of the brain and 

 spinal cord. Contamine is more or less a partisan of this theory, as he 

 explains the origin of the disease by stating that a reserve of nervous 

 influence which is not expended in the animals that calve easily, by a 

 reflex movement acts at first upon the spinal cord, and afterwards on the 

 brain. 



Another theory — that of Lafosse — is that the malady is due to the cir- 

 cumstance that the milky fluid secreted by the cotyledons, and absorbed 

 by the chorial villi for the nutrition of the foetus, being no longer sepa- 

 rated from the blood after parturition, remains in the circulation and 

 accumulates there until the mammary glands eliminate it. When these 

 glands act promptly, the febrile movement is imperceptible or almost 

 nil ; but if they are slow in secreting, the arises a more or less intense 

 morbid disturbance, due more especially to then presence in the blood of 

 a product foreign to its normal composition. Without commenting at 

 any length on this theory, it may be sufficient to mention that in some 

 cases of parturient apoplexy, the function of the mammary glands is not 

 suspended. 



Others — among them Deneubourg — trace the commencement of the 

 disease to milk fever, the intensity of which, originated by a rapid and 

 easy delivery, is in proportion to the development and secretory power of 

 the mammae. The resulting disturbance is spread over the entire economy, 

 and favored by the repletion of the stomach and the pre-existing plethora 

 — suddenly increased by the mass of blood which goes to the uterus dur- 

 ing pregnancy — as well as by the state of the nervous system in general 

 which the pains of labor have induced, excites grave disturbance in the 

 important functions of digestion, circulation and innervation. Hence 

 arise disorders, as much more sudden and serious as the repletion of the 

 stomach and the plethora are great, the blood is rich and plastic, and the 

 irritability of the nervous system — especially the ganglionic — is excited. 

 Consequently, we have a general functional disturbance resulting from 

 the " congesting " action of all the cerebro-spinal and trisphlanchnic or 

 ganglionic nervous systems. 



For Sanson, the collapsus of parturition is the consequence of a sudden, 

 disturbance in the physiological condition of the uterus after parturition, 

 consisting in the sudden removal of blood which congested the organ at 

 that time. ; as during gestation a large portion of the bl4)od is diverted 

 towards the pelvic region, where the uterus is lodged. After parturition 

 the mucous membrane and cotyledons of the organ have lost their func- 

 tion, and the enormous quantity of blood they contained is suddenly 

 thrown into the circulation, surcharges the neighboring vessels beyond 

 measure, and produces collapse. In proof of this, at the autopsies he 

 made, Sanson affirms that the mucous membrane and cotyledons were 

 always found bloodless, and of a pale-yellow color. 



Wermer is of opinion that the vascular system is involved, — as mani- 

 fested by the diminution in temperature and the lacteal secretion — as 

 well as the ner\^ous system — shown by the general depression and loss of 

 sensibility, inactivity of the spinal cord in the dorsal region, difficulty in 

 digestion, quickened heart's action, and slowing of the respiration ; and 



