DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION. 227 



limbs or tail ; if the cow is moved, she steps unsteadily, or even stag- 

 gers ; she no longer notices her calf or her feed ; the eyes appear red 

 and their pupils dilated; the weakness increases and the cow lies 

 down or falls and after that is unable to rise. At this time the 

 l^ulse is usually full, bounding, and the temperature raised, though 

 not invariably so, the head, horns, and ears being especially hot and 

 the veins of the head full, while the visible mucous membranes of 

 nose and eyes are deeply congested. 



The cow may lie on her breastbone with her feet beneath the body 

 and her head turned sleepily round, with the nose resting on the right 

 flank; or, if worse, she may be stretched full on her side, with even 

 the head extended, though at times it is suddenly raised and again 

 dashed back on the ground. At such times the legs, fore and hind, 

 struggle convulsively, e\'idently through unconscious nervous spasm. 

 By this time the unconsciousness is usually complete; the eyes are 

 glazed, their pupils widely dilated, and their lids are not moved when 

 the ball of the eye is touched with the finger. Pricking the skin with 

 a pin also fails to bring any wincing or other response. The pulse, 

 at first from 50 to 70 a minute, becomes weaker and more accelerated 

 as the disease advances. The breathing is quickened, becoming 

 more and more so with the violence of the symptoms, and at first 

 associated with moaning (in exceptional cases, bellowing), it may, 

 before death, become slow, deep, sighing, or rattling (stertorous). 

 The temperature, at first usually raised, tends to become lower as 

 stupor and utter insensibility and coma supervene. The bowels, 

 which may have moved at the onset of the attack, become torpid or 

 completely paralyzed, and, unless in case of improvement, they are 

 not likely to operate again. Yet this is the result of paralysis and 

 not of induration of the feces, as often shown by the semiliquid, 

 pultaceous condition of the contents after death. The bladder, too, 

 is paralyzed and fails to expel its contents. A free action of either 

 bladder or bowels, or of both, is always a favorable symptom. The 

 urine contains sugar, in quantity proportionate to the severity of 

 the attack. 



In nearly all cases the torpor of the digestive organs results in gas- 

 tric disorder; the j)aunch becomes the seat of fermentation, produc- 

 ing gas, which causes it to bloat like a drum. There are frequent 

 eructations of gas and liquid and solid feed, which, reaching the par- 

 alyzed throat, pass in part into the windpipe and cause inflammations 

 of the air passages and lungs. 



In the torpid form of the disease there is much less indication of 

 fever or violence. There may be no special heat about the horns, 

 ears, or forehead, nor any marked redness or congestion of the eyes 

 or nose, nor engorgement of the veins of the head. The attack 

 comes on more slowly, with apparent weakness of the hind limbs, 



