960 Veterinary Obstetrics 



extremely dull and weak and paying no attention whatever to 

 her calf. The udder was immensely enlarged, hard and unyield- 

 ing, and but a few drops of a thin, serous fluid could be pressed 

 out of the teats. The general appearance of the animal indi- 

 cated that the di.sease was progressing rapidly to a fatal termina- 

 tion, and in our judgment the patient would not have survived 

 many hours under the usual methods of treatment. 



We ignored the local handling of the organ, and instead in- 

 jected a full dose of eserine sulphate and pilocarpine hydro- 

 chlorate hypodermically. The purgation and salivation were 

 very prompt and decided. The improvement in the condition of 

 the animal was also prompt and remarkable. The temperature 

 fell at once, and continued to drop at the rate of more than i°F. 

 per hour, until it reached normal. The muzzle soon became 

 moist, and the cow renewed her attentions to her calf. 



The engorgement of the udder diminished rapidly ; the gland 

 quickly became less tense and hard, and milk soon reappeared 

 in the gland. The recovery was as prompt as had been the onset 

 of the di.sease, which had shown unusual virulence from the 

 beginning. 



Vennerholm regards the repeated withdrawal of the milk or 

 excretions representing it, and thereby the removal of so much 

 infectious material, as one of the most important elements in the 

 handling of acute mammitis in the earlier stages. He recom- 

 mends that the milk which accumulates in the cisterns should 

 be withdrawn at least hourly so long as there is a hope of bring- 

 ing about the resolution of the gland. He very properly re- 

 marks that the infectious fluid should on no account be depo.sited 

 upon the stable floor, but should be milked directly into a con- 

 tainer partly filled with a reliable disinfectant. Too much reli- 

 ance should not be placed upon the withdrawal of the small 

 amount of fluid which has accumulated in the milk cistern. In 

 most cases of acute mammitis, the amount of this is not large, 

 although we know full well that it is highly infected, and may 

 consequently look upon its retention in the cistern and sinuses 

 as very undesirable. The important pathologic changes are tak- 

 ing place chiefly in the acini, and not in the milk canals or cis- 

 tern, and such influence as we may be able to exert upon the 

 large milk canals and their reservoirs is not of fundamental 

 importance. Our anxiety is centered upon the* acini themselves. 



