236 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



mother and the young will be happier if they are eft to 

 pursue the dictates of nature. Many a cow has fret ed 

 herself into a fatal fever from the sudden loss of her little 

 one, and many a calf has died from the neglect of that 

 cleanliness which the mother could best effect. 



" A great deal has been said of the necessity of cleans- 

 ing the cow after calving, or the removal or expulsion of 

 the placenta. There is much error in this. The pla- 

 centa comes away with the calf;* and it is that natural 

 discharge from the womb, continued during several days, 

 and which is observed to a greater or less extent in all 

 quadrupeds, that gives the notion of anything being re- 

 tained. Medicine, nevertheless, is necessary in order to 

 prevent that access of fever to which the cow in high 

 condition is liable ; but that medicine should be admin- 

 istered, not in the form of a stimulating cordial, from the 

 false supposition that the animal wants support after the 

 fatigue and pain it has undergone, but in that of a pur- 

 gative, in order to prevent an attack of fever, to which 

 the animal is so naturally exposed after parturition, and 

 which is so often hastened and aggravated by absurd 

 management. The mother requires little care after calv- 

 ing, except that of protection from too great severity of 

 weather." 



* This remark is not correct. The placenta or " clearings " gener- 

 ally come away soon after the calf; but sometimes, owing to a con- 

 tract ion of the neck of the womb, or the placenta adhering to the 

 inner surface of the womb, it does not readily come away; and it 

 soon acts as a foreign body, producing irritation and fever; and it 

 will rapidly become putrid and noisome. Yet, in some cases, it has 

 been retained seven or eight days, without serious injury. In these 

 difficult cases, give no powerful stimulants. Give a dose of thorough- 

 wort tea, or one pound of Epsom salts, with two drachms of ginger in 

 addition to either dose, a few hours after calving, which will have a 

 favorable effect in this particular, as well as o i the general health of 

 the animal. [See next page.] Some tie a weight of six or eight 

 ounces to the cord, the action of which may separate the placenta 

 from its adhesions. 



Sometimes it adheres so firmly to the surface of the womb that it 

 is retained till it becomes putrid, and the hand must be introduced to 

 separate it in the gentlest manner possible, else dangerous inflamma- 

 tion will follow. Sometimes, when there is an inversion of the womb, 

 or " falling of the withers," the placenta is found adhering closely to 

 the then outer part of the womb, and should be very gently separated, 

 before the womb is returned. 



