356 BOVINE OBSTETRICS 



accepted view that the disease is due to intoxication— that is, 

 autointoxication, in which the dose is fatal or not. In the 

 latter instance nature soon gaius the upper hand. But where 

 does the poison originate? For at least ten years Thomassen 

 supposes and thinks that it should be looked for in the milk, 

 where toxins are formed from the albumen by the influence of 

 low organisms. The amount of albumen in the colostrum is 15 

 to 20 per cent, (besides some sugar), soon drops to 2 per cent, 

 and even less. This explains why the disease occurs occasion- 

 ally before birth and mostly at a time when the third to seventh 

 calf is born, at which time lacteal secretion is at its best. 



In poorly nourished or sick animals (also in those which 

 had difficult labor) the production of milk and albumen is less 

 than normal. 



In no animal is the milk after its secretion retained as 

 long in the udder as in the cow, thus affording opportunity for 

 the development of toxalbumens. In other animals the young 

 empties the udder each time it sucks. 



Are low organisms present in the udder? 



Thomassen, already in 1893 and 1894, examined the fluid 

 of the udder some time before parturition and always found 

 diplo and steptococci. In fact, there is no animal in which 

 low organisms find as readily entrance through the ducts 

 of the teats as in the cow ; in this animal infectious mastitis is 

 also commonly observed. 



Thomassen in 1893 experimented with the milk of cows 

 suffering with parturient paresis, by injecting it into calves. 

 He injected as much as 100 g. subcutaneously, but without any 

 results. A point in favor of this hypothesis lies in the fact 

 that milking previous to parturition as a prophylactic measure 

 frequently gives good results, that the disease is almost 

 unknown in localities where the calves suckle, that it is less 

 common on pasture, where the danger of an infection is 

 decreased, than in the stable. Nevertheless, the above named 

 bacteria should not be held responsible, as others may enter 

 just as readily. This explains also why several sucees-i\e 

 appear in one and the same stable. 



