PARTURIENT ECLAMPSIA. 



683 



latter had never witnessed iDremonitory signs of the disease, though Hert- 

 wig had. He says that with Bitches which are suckling, and particularly 

 those kept in the house and well fed, it is not rare to observe a state of 

 tetanic rigidity and incomplete paralysis, with the following symptoms : 

 The animal suddenly commences to be uneasy and anxious ; the eyes 

 are haggard, sometimes the nose is a little hot ; the respiration is very 

 short and quick, though pressure on the chest or abdomen does not cause 

 any pain. In a short time — about a quarter of an hour after the difficulty 

 in respiration was observed — the animal cannot stand, but falls on its 

 side, and lies with the limbs extended ; even when raised it cannot 

 stand. The breathing becomes still quicker — from 60 to 100 per min- 

 ute ; while the pulse is small, hard, and irregular, and beats 100. Con- 

 sciousness appears to be retained, but the animal refuses food and drink, 

 and the alvine and urinary excretions are suppressed. The mammary 

 glands are, greatly engorged, hot, and abundantly provided with milk, 

 the quality of which does not appear to be altered or injurious to the 

 young, which usually continue to suck as before. This state continues 

 for forty-eight hours, when death generally occurs from apoplexy and 

 paralysis ; though by proper treatment the disease may always be quickly 

 cured. Zundel's description is almost the same, except that he says there 

 are tonic convulsions, with clonic contractions extending rapidly to the 

 whole of the body ; that sometimes there is trismus, with grinding of the 

 teeth ; constantly there is a white foam at the mouth and muscular trem- 

 blings of the jaws ; the breathing is stertorous, and sensibility much di- 

 minished ; that there are cases in which the eclampsia appears to be 

 merely partial, affecting only the hind-limbs for instance, and the animal 

 sits, with the head unaffected, and whining ; that the disease is continuous 

 and without intermittences, the attacks last for one or two days ; and if 

 no relief is afforded the creature dies from total paralysis, due to conges- 

 tion of the meninges of the brain, or from asphyxia after a spasm of the 

 glottis. 



In the Sow, according to Ellenberger and Wostendorf, the symptoms 

 are not very unlike calf-fever in the Cow, with which disease it is de- 

 scribed by Franck, In the cases Ellenberger {Gurlt and Hertwig's 

 Magazin, 1869) had an opportunity of seeing, the animals were attacked 

 from three to five days after easy parturition. The appetite was partially 

 or totally lost, the young were neglected, and the animal seldom moved 

 about ; soon it persisted in lying, and there was suppression of faeces and 

 urine, with diminution or cessation of milk secretion. The animal lay on 

 its side, the eyes closed, and the body temperature low ; at times there 

 were feeble convulsions. The respiration was irregular, deep-drawn, and 

 moaning ; the pulse 80 to 90 per minute ; and great loss of sensibility. 

 Nothing was observed about the generative organs. After twenty-four 

 to thirty-six hours improvement took place, faeces were voided, and the 

 animal began to pay attention to surrounding objects ; the temperature 

 rose ; the pulse and breathing became normal ; the appetite and milk 

 secretion returned ; and in from three to five days recovery was complete. 

 All the Sows survived the attack. In one case reported by Seller {Can- 

 statfs Jahresbericht, 1862, p. 48), the symptoms were more of a convul- 

 sive or epileptic nature. 



Nature, and Causes. 



This disease, it appears, never attacks any but animals in the parturient 



