MAMMITIS OR MASTITIS. 709 



discharging a foetid sanguinolent fluid, tlie animal then becomes depressed and feverish, 

 debility and emaciation set in, and the creature succumbs to an attack of septikaemia. 



The numerous necroscopical examinations made by Rivolta confirm, in his opinion, 

 the distinction he has established between this special malady and erysipelatous mam- 

 mitis. With regard to the causes, the shepherds affirm that the malady attacks those 

 sheep which are kept for a long time on a thick bed of litter ; others, again, assert that 

 it appears when they are allowed to pasture in the open air, and are not confined. The 

 same uncertainty prevails with regard to its contagiousness. The shepherds carefully 

 isolate the affected animals : and it would seem that, by their doing so, the disease is 

 limited to those first attacked. 



Rivolta is of opinion that this form of mammitis is produced and maintained by 

 special micrococci and bacteria, which penetrate by the teats, or at some part of the skin 

 covering the gland. 



Tuberculosis of the udder is sometimes a cause of mammitis, and in 

 all cases, when severe, diminishes the secretion of milk. The mammae 

 are gt-eatly enlarged, hard, and nodulated, and softening of the tubercular 

 masses may give rise to isolated or diffused abscesses.* 



Several Italian authorities, and among them Brusasco, Oreste, Metaxa, 

 and Provinzano, have drawn attention to a peculiar disease of Goats and 

 Sheep, accompanied by the gradual loss of milk. Often lameness is 

 observed, and within fourteen days the quantity of milk is reduced to 

 one-fifth of the usual quantity. This fluid soon becomes sour. The 

 disease appears to be contagious, for it could be produced by injecting 

 the milk from affected Sheep into the teats of healthy Sheep and Goats. 

 All the animals so experimented upon became affected, the period of in- 

 cubation being six, twelve, fifteen, or twenty days. The secretion of milk 

 ceases in from eighteen to thirty days. 



Treatment. 



However slight the attack or mild the form of mammitis may be, in 

 view of the serious consequences which it may entail, treatment should 

 be prompt and judicious ; as in two or three days alterations may be pro- 

 duced in the secretofy apparatus of the gland, which medical skill may 

 be unable to amend. 



When the udder or quarter is simply engorged with milk, nothing more 

 has to be done than to thoroughly remove this fluid. This, of course, 

 cannot be accomplished at once, and it maybe necessary to milk the ani- 

 mal several times during the day — five or six times, or even every one 

 or two hours. When this causes pain, the milking should be gently per- 

 formed ; and if pressure on the teat causes so much disturbance that the 

 fluid cannot be withdrawn by hand, then the teat-syphon (Fig. 207), well 

 oiled, should be passed into the milk duct ; should it be necessary to re- 

 tain it there, then the ring-syphon (Fig. 208) may be employed, its reten- 

 tion being effected by a cord or tape through the rings and tied over the 

 animal's loins. In all cases in which hand-milking causes pain, and is 

 likely to increase the evil it is intended to avert, the teat-syphon should 

 be resorted to.f It may be necessary to remove the progeny for a day 

 or two, or allow it access only to the healthy quarters, if the animal 



* This tubercular affection of the udder is very important, when it is borne in mind that the milk of 

 animals suffering from tuberculosis will, if experimental results be accepted as proof, produce the disease 

 in those creatures who partake of it ; and that, when the mammag themselves are involved, the viruliferous 

 qualities of this fluid may be greatly increased. Is the more and more frequent occurrence of the disease 

 to be attributed to this cause ? , • . • • 



t Franck very properly draws attention to the necessity for thoroughly cleansing these syphons m boihng 

 water or carbolic acid solution. The danger of conveying infection to other quarters of the mammae, or to 

 the udder of healthy animals, is obvious unless this precaution is adopted. 



