356 VETERINARY LECTURES 



is drawn from the udder ; next an injection is made by dissolving 

 2 drachms of iodide of potassium in i quart of water that has been 

 boiled and allowed to cool down to 90 F. A fourth part of this 

 solution is then injected by an ordinary india-rubber enema syringe, 

 to which a special teat-tube is attached, into each quarter of the 

 udder. This treatment is known as that of Schmidts, a German 

 expert, and was soon after followed by injecting 1 drachm of chinosol 

 in a solution the same way, instead of the iodide of potassium ; pure 

 oxygen and filtered air were also injected with equal, if not better, 

 results. These modes of treatment go to confirm the view I held in 

 1877, for in an article written that year by me I drew attention to 

 the fact that milk fever in the cow had its origin in the mammary 

 glands, and that the real exciting cause was the removal of the 

 pressure by the too sudden withdrawal of all the milk ; and now, by 

 the simple process of inflating the udder with filtered atmospheric air, 

 it proves that it is not a septic condition of the milk cells, but merely 

 a collapse of the functions of the udder caused by the removal of the 

 pressure, as now the only treatment necessary is to inflate the four 

 quarters of the udder with atmospheric air filtered through medicated 

 cotton-wool, by means of a teat-tube fixed by a special arrangement 

 to a bicycle-pump. As each quarter is blown up tense and tight, a 

 piece of broad tape is tied round the teat, to be removed in about 

 six or eight hours after. In many bad cases this treatment has a 

 marvellous action, for in the course of four to six hours the cow is on 

 her feet. Great care, however, must be taken that the teat-tube 

 and fittings are scrupulously clean. The teat-tube must be scalded 

 in boiling water before and after use. If care is not taken to have 

 instruments and vessels clean and disinfected, there is danger of 

 inducing mammitis, or inflammation of the mammary gland. Under 

 this treatment, purgatives, as a rule, are not required, for in the 

 course of thirty to forty hours slight diarrhoea generally follows. 

 In all cases the animal should be kept trussed up on its breast-bone 

 and belly with bundles of straw or bags of chaff or sawdust. Never 

 allow the cow to lie on its side, and, with the exception of turning it 

 from one side to the other occasionally, leave the patient alone. The 

 hand in some cases may be well soaped and introduced into the 



