688 PA THOL OG Y OF PAR TURITION. 



1. Rolls [Veterinary Journal, Vol. II., p. 17) was sent for in great haste to see a 

 Cow, five years old, which had calved a fortnight previously, and had eaten the placenta. 

 For two days before he was called in the animal had not been well, and its elf had 

 been removed the previous night. It had a wild excited expression ; eyes staring ; ears 

 warm ; pulse full ; rather strong and quick ; jaws continually moving, as if in the act of 

 biting ; foaming at the mouth ; the under part of the tongue purple and livid-looking. 

 The movement of the jaws could not be stopped by holding them together, and whem 

 the animal was left to itself it was continually biting at its fore-legs, though without 

 making a wound ; when interrupted it gnawed the manger, woodwork of the stall, or 

 any thing presented to it. If hay was offered it would seize it, masticate it with the con- 

 tinuous and violent movement referred to, and swallow it. It took some bran-mash and 

 chilled water, and though it partook of nothing else, it looked full, and there was the 

 peculiar sour odor often met with in cows suffering gastric derangement, and especially 

 when it occurs soon after parturition. Blood was abstracted, and belladonna and linseed 

 oil administered. In about three hours afterwards, the convulsive movements ceased and 

 the Cow appeared to be much better. Next day the excited expression was still appar- 

 ent. Under further treatment it recovered. 



Thirteen months afterwards it calved again, and when a fortnight old the calf was 

 removed from it. Next morning it was found to be suffering from a similar attack : the 

 jaws moving in the same convulsive manner, but not so violently. Rolls noted that the 

 Cow looked wild and excited ; the pupils of the eyes were normal ; ears warm ; pulse 

 eighty per minute, and full and strong; foaming at the mouth; under part of tongue 

 livid ; grinding the teeth occasionally ; the fore-legs were wet and covered with saliva, 

 from gnawing them. The animal was again bled and had opiates, and recovery soon 

 took place. 



2. Robellet [Rectieil de Med. Veierinaire, 1874) gives a similar instance, in which the 

 symptoms closely resembled those of rabies. The Cow — four years old — calved four 

 days previously, parturition being normal. On the day on which Robellet was sent for 

 it had refused to eat at pasture, left its companions, and constantly licked its fore-legs. 

 In the evening it was restless, and bit every thing about it. Robellet found that it had 

 bitten the manger, rack, and food — allo'wing the latter to fall from its mouth without 

 masticating it ; it also seized its breast and fore-legs, but without breaking the skin. 

 The pulse was full and sixty per minute ; the eyes, unnaturally open, were red, 

 fixed, and haggard, and the pupils dilated; the buccal mucous membrane was slightly 

 inflamed, and a frothy saliva surrounded the borders of the lips ; the respiration was 

 normal. At times the Cow stretched out its fore-limbs, bellowed, pawed the ground 

 with the fore-feet, and seemed to defy an invisible enemy. The handle of a stable- 

 fork being presented, the animal seized it in a frantic manner and bit it, shaking the 

 head violently. 



The symptopis gave rise to the suspicion of rabies ; but no evidence as to inoculation 

 could he obtained. The Cow was separated from the others, secured by a double chain, 

 and an ounce and a half of chloral administered in two doses in tea — a quarter of an 

 hour between each dose. Several minutes after the second dose, the Cow, which had 

 continued to show the same symptoms, hung down its head, and without staggering, 

 fell like an inert mass on the ground, then rose at once of its own accord. Ten minutes 

 afterwards the same occurrence was again noted — the Cow once more falling and jump- 

 ing up; it remained in the excited condition already described. Next day all the alarm- 

 ing symptoms had subsided ; there was no fever or excitement — nothing except slight 

 weakness and prostration. It had fallen a third time on the previous day, then became 

 drowsy, and remained Iving for about three hours ; after which it arose, apparently quite 

 well. 



Robellet's father had seen two similar cases. 



Storrar relates that, in one of his cases, so savagely did the Cow 

 bite the timber fornjing the front of its stall, that with one desperate 

 effort it broke all the incisor teeth, except one, entirely out of its jaw, 

 and fractured the alveolar processes. Another Cow, some years before, 

 so severely injured the lower jaw, that the incisors could not be employed 

 for some time ; though the molars could be used when the food was 

 placed in the mouth. 



Gunther {Geburtshulfe, p. 145) and Landel {^Repertorium^ vol. viii.) have 

 observed similar cases. They describe the animals as extremely excited 

 and violent, biting every thing around them — even people, climlDing into 

 the manger, running against the wall, roused to fits of fury at the slight- 



