DROPSY OF THE FCETUS 197 



(b) ANASARCA AND ASCITES. 



Anasarca in the calf occurs in connection with ascites and 

 hydrothorax. Calves of this kind are designated " lard calves" 

 (Speckkalber) or " moon calves " (MondJcalber). On account of 

 dropsy, the foetuses are of enormous dimensions, and in an 

 ordinary presentation are twice as wide as a normal calf. It is 

 rounded in shape, the trunk forms a short cylinder, from which 

 in front the head and laterally four short legs project as a 

 result of the ©edematous state of the subcutaneous and inter- 

 muscular connective tissue. Such hydropic calves are usually 

 born at the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy. As a rule, 

 they are hairless, the hide resembling chamois-skin. 



^Etiology. — It is decidedly doubtful whether hydropsy of 

 the foetus follows dropsy of the mother and co-exists with it ; 

 on the contrary, this cedematous condition depends on diseases 

 of the foetus. Franck mentions the post-mortem of a dropsical 

 calf, where hydropsy was produced by the absence of the 

 ductus thoracicus and larger lymph vessels. Schurink (Hol- 

 land) found in a dropsical calf, born seven weeks before the end 

 of pregnancy, kidneys weighing together 4.25 kg. Arioing 

 (St. Cyr and Violet) mentions a similar case, where the kidneys 

 weighed 2300, respectively 1990 g. The liver weighed 2.6 kg. 

 Cystic degeneration of the kidneys was present. Nocard de- 

 scribed a very exact autopsy of a calf with ascites. The liver 

 weighed 2.5 kg. The left ventricle of the heart showed chronic 

 valvular endocarditis. 



In some instances dropsy of the foetal membranes is pres- 

 ent at the same time. Hermenier observed a case of dropsy 

 of the kidneys giving rise to dystokia. The kidneys were four 

 times as large as the head of a man and contained 15 1. of fluid. 

 Hermenier offers as cause for this dropsical change the absence 

 of the urachus. 



Diagnosis. — It is not very difficult to recognize such a 

 so-called "lardaceous" calf. In the anterior presentation the 

 small fore legs have hardly entered the pelvis. Exploration 

 reveals the doughy, fluctuating surface of the calf, the rotundity 



