222 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF 



Tatum, Gwemafield, to attenc^a cow of his. Her history he 

 gave as follows : — 



" She has been unwell since she calved, three weeks ago. 

 The foetal membranes were not expelled for a fortnight after 

 the evenf, and they came away piecemeal in a state of putres- 

 ence. Her appetite has been very capricious all along, and 

 her bowels rather costive. A discharge of white matter has 

 taken place from the vagina for the last week or so. She 

 gives but little milk. The breathing is tranquil, and she does 

 not cough. She has a peculiar stare in the countenance, and 

 takes a great deal of notice of every thing. On inspection I 

 found her as the owner had stated ; the symptoms, to a casual 

 observer, being any thing but indicative of extensive organic 

 changes, but more of general debility after parturition ; she 

 was rather emaciated. On closer examination, I found the 

 mucous membranes to be rather pallid ; the mouth cool and 

 moist ; the temperature of the body but slightly below the nat- 

 ural standard, and equal over all parts of the body ; the pulse 

 very weak, beating 96 in the minute, and regular ; the breath- 

 ing only very slightly hurried. After advancing thus far in 

 my examination, I must confess that the case fairly puzzled 

 me, and I was inclined to look on it as one of general debility 

 and leucorrhoea. But as the discharge from the vagina was 

 very slight, I thought it could not be the sole cause of the loss 

 of appetite and other symptoms present. I now auscultated 

 the chest, and on applying my ear, the respiratory murmur 

 was heard distinct and natural, but I thought a little increased 

 at the anterior portion of both sides. On auscultating the 

 region of the heart, I failed to detect the sounds of that organ, 

 and on still further examination, both the sounds and the im- 

 pulse were indetectible. This struck me as being curious, but 

 on account of the regularity of the pulse I did not consider 

 either the heart or its membranes to be the seat of disease, and 

 treated the case as one of general debility, loss of appetite and 

 leucorrhoea. The animal lingered for about four weeks more, 

 the symptoms remaining nearly the same as at the time when I 

 first examined her, with the exception of increased emaciation. 



