672 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



invariably gorge itself with food of which it needs no part. 

 If one will take the trouble to watch a calf taken from its 

 dam and kept twenty-four hours without food, no evidence 

 of hunger will be manifested during that period. 



If it could be known that a calf carried no potentially 

 harmful bacteria in its gastro-intestinal tract, an immediate 

 feed of milk might not do harm. It certainly can do no good. 

 But most calves are not thus free from bacteria, for the 

 growth of which milk constitutes an ideal medium. When a 

 calf of average health is born in an ordinary dairy herd, its 

 rectal temperature is below 102 degrees F., and generally 

 it will remain there so long as the calf is not fed. If given 

 a feed of milk, its temperature rises (bacterial decomposi- 

 tion of milk with absorption of bacterial poisons by the 

 calf) within two to four hours, and the amount of elevation 

 will be proportionate to the volume of milk fed. The bac- 

 terial decomposition of milk in the alimentary tract of nurs- 

 lings is so nearly universal that it has led to the fallacious 

 teaching that the physiologic temperature of the new-born 

 is higher than that of the adult. The temperature is indeed 

 usually higher in the new-born, but it is pathologic, not 

 physiologic, as the experimental feeding of calves has clearly 

 and emphatically shown. Since it is unnecessary to feed the 

 calf during its first twenty-four hours, and such feeding is 

 accompanied by danger, this period should be looked upon 

 as one in which to do the utmost to forestall the active 

 arousal of infection and to prepare the calf by every avail- 

 able means known for feeding safely and successfully. The 

 temperature of the calf should be measured two or, better, 

 three times daily during the first ten days, since an eleva- 

 tion of temperature is the most constant and valuable sign 

 of approaching trouble. It is especially important that 

 the temperature of the calf be measured just before 

 feeding so that if fever is present the milk may be with- 

 held. The feces are also to be watched closely with 

 reference to consistency, color, odor, and the presence 

 or absence of blood. In most cases of impending 

 dysentery blood may be seen in the feces. At the end of 



