I028 Veterinary Obstetrics 



ciency to the normal peristalsis of the intestines and the corre- 

 lated normal secretions of the alimentary glands. Stimulants 

 strengthen the animal and help tide it over a crisis in the course 

 of the disease. Alcoholic stimulants act also as antiseptics. 



Much good may sometimes be had from the administration of 

 gruels or other substances which are at once nutritive and sooth- 

 ing to the irritated mucosa. For this purpose one may use a thin 

 gruel of elm bark or of starch, or may administer the whites of 

 eggs, but care should be taken not to force too large an amount 

 of these substances upon the young animal unless the conditions 

 warrant us to believe that they will be digested, and not decom- 

 pose to further complicate the disease. 



It is desirable to overcome as far as practicable the tenesmus 

 due to the irritation by the intestinal discharges in the rectum, 

 for which purpose one may advantageously administer enemas 

 of a soothing and aseptic character, such as a o.s'/ir solution of 

 carbolic acid in starch or milk. Enemas of elm bark gruel, to 

 which has been added salicylate of soda, may be used advan- 

 tageously. 



The surroundings of the young animal should be clean and 

 comfortable, and any exertion upon its part should be carefully 

 avoided, since this tends to greatly aggravate the disease. 



b Infectious Diarrhea of Calves. 



There occurs frequently in calves a serious dysentery or scours, 

 which is regarded as a specific infectious disease, differing mate- 

 rially from the sporadic dysentery of the young animal. It ap- 

 pears usually during the first few days after birth, but may appear 

 almost immediately after birth, and, in fact, seemingly exists in 

 some instances at the time that the young animal is born, so that 

 it quickly perishes from the disease without having sucked the 

 mother. The disease is highly fatal, and runs a very acute 

 course. 



Causes. Franck was one of the first to describe diarrhea as 

 an infectious disease, since which time many writers have verified 

 his conclusions, that it is a highly contagious malady due to a 

 specific cause. 



Nocard asserted the identity or close relationship between in- 

 fectious abortion and dysentery of the new-born, but there seems 

 to be no very good clinical grounds for such an assumption, 



