PARTURIENT APOPLEXY.— PARTURIENT COLLAPSE. 675 



other causes ; and really it has been observed in oxen, non-parturient 

 cows, etc. Those, therefore, who have been accustomed to name the 

 disease " calf-fever," are compelled to speak of a malady bearing a re- 

 semblance to calf-fever. By the \qx\x\ febris puerperalis one designates 



septic metro-peritonitis and its results. 



Preventive Treatment. 



When we see the great and speedy fatality of parturient collapse, and 

 when we know that the subjects of it are hearty-feeding, high-milking 

 Cows in a more or less advanced state of plethora, we have every reason 

 to lay great stress on preventive treatment, and to combat the predisposi- 

 tion to the malady by a strict attention to hygiene, particularly during 

 the last months of pregnancy and immediately after parturition. The 

 diet should be soft and easily digested, so as to avert constipation ; and 

 if the animal is plethoric, the allowance ought to be moderate. When it 

 is possible to allow exercise for some time before parturition, this should 

 not be withheld. Nothing is so likely to prevent an attack of the disease, 

 than keeping the Cow in as natural and free a condition as possible. 

 Exposure to cold and currents of air, and every thing likely to diminish 

 the functions of the skin, should likewise be avoided. 



More special precautions have been recommended by various author- 

 ities, founded generally on the opinions they may have entertained as to 

 the pathology of the disease ; but the utility of these prophylactic meas- 

 ures has been more or less disputed. Bleeding during the month before 

 parturition has been highly lauded, but th(3re is every reason to believe 

 that it is more injurious than useful. Others recommend the adminis- 

 tration of nux vomica, tartar emetic, nitrate of potass, sulphate of soda 

 or magnesia, and laxatives of various kinds — all of which may prove 

 more or less useful ; while others, again, speak favorably of milking the 

 Cow by hand a few days |pefore calving, and thrice instead of twice a 

 day for a short time after that event, if the Calf is removed or cannot 

 abstract sufficient milk. This they insist upon doing if the udder is 

 largely developed or distended. 



As there may be danger if the newly-calved Cow is allowed to drink 

 much cold water, this should either be very sparingly given, or, better 

 still, warm gruel, in small but frequent quantities, may be substituted. 



Curative Treatment. 



The different methods of treatment enumerated for the cure of this 

 disease are completely- bewildering, and they are so diametrically op- 

 posed to each other — from the obscurity which prevails as to the nature 

 of the malady, we suppose — that we can scarcely be astonished to find 

 that they are all more or less unsuccessful, and that the majority of the 

 most observant practitioners are inclined to believe that recovery has 

 followed most frequently when, without adopting violent measures, the 

 attendant has waited for the curative effects of nature — usually decided 

 about the second or third day : only attempting to combat certain mor- 

 bid conditions which might aggravate the case. 



Nevertheless, it is evident that some mode of treatment must be re- 

 sorted to, and that this should be based on the indications furnished by 

 the symptoms during the course of the malady, or upon what we know of 

 its pathology. We shall glance at some of the means which may be 

 employed in the curative treatment of the disease. 



