260 DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



and in very rare instances may disappear entirely. A fatal termination 

 is only to l)c feared when complications arise. 



Therapeutics. — The author has tried all the various agents recom- 

 mended in this disease, but without any decided results. Arsenic, either 

 in the form of Donovan's or Fowler's solution, or alternated with some 

 preparation of iron, has given the best results. Schimmel recommends 

 cacodylate, but these di'ugs must be given for some time, and it is only 

 after prolonged administration of salines that any favoral^le result is ob- 

 served. The writer thinks that more benefit is derived from quiet and 

 nutritive diet, particularly meat, than anything else. 



Antipyrine, which is used in man, is of not much service in the dog. 

 Electricity in one case produced decided lessening of the symptoms after 

 regular application of slight galvanic stimulation of the head and along 

 the vertebral column. 



Eclampsia. 



Eclampsia, which is not a very good definition, is a tonic-clonic con- 

 vulsive spasm which is olxserved in bitches, and, as a rule, during the 

 attacks the animal is perfectly conscious. 



Etiology. — The causes of this disease are very little known. Accord- 

 ing to Hertwig it ma}' be caused by cold, stagnation of the milk in the 

 udder, taking away the young too soon, and sometimes by worry. In 

 two-thirds of the cases of true eclampsia all the young are still with the 

 mother, and invariably we find the animals attacked to be excellent 

 mothers, and the litters are generally strong, and healthy, and lay on 

 flesh very quickly while the mother loses it. The onset of the disease is 

 generally seen at the end of the second or third week, but the animal may 

 be dull and not right for several days before the acute symptoms show 

 themselves. In some cases observed, the disease developed after either 

 one or more pups had been taken away from the mother. In the onset 

 of the disease the mammary glands contain much milk, and the bitches 

 most frequently attacked are small, delicate (house dogs and pet animals), 

 and, as a rule, have a light coat. Friedberger and Frohner are of the 

 opinion that the disease may originate from anaemia of the spinal cord or, 

 in a reflex way, from the mammary glands and uterus, as they found 

 anaemia of the papilla of tlu^ nerve by making an examination of the retina 

 with the ophthalmoscope. Hutyra and Marek state it may also be pro- 

 duced by the direct action of toxines on the sexual organism or on the 

 motor cells of the antei-ior horns of the spinal cord, and other observers 

 think that there is a similarity between this condition and puerperal fever 

 of the cow. With this last theory the writer is inclined to agree. Accord- 

 ing to the statements of several authors, severe anatomical disturbances 



