DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION. 239 



From the seventh to the tenth day the eruption forms into a blister, 

 with raised margins and a depression in the center, and from which 

 the whole of the liquid can not be drawn by a single puncture. The 

 blister, in other words, is chambered, and each chamber must be 

 opened to evacuate the whole of the contents. If the pock forms on 

 a surface where there is thick hair it does not rise as a blister, but 

 oozes out a straw-colored fluid which concretes on the hairs in an 

 amber-colored mass. In one or two days after the pock is full it 

 becomes yellow from contained pus and then dries into a brownish- 

 yellow scab, which finally falls, leaving one or more distinct pits in 

 the skin. Upon the teats, however, this regular course is rarely seen; 

 the vesicles are burst by the hands of the milker as soon as liquid 

 is formed, and as they continue to suffer at each milking they form 

 raw, angry sores, scabbing more or less at intervals, but are slow to 

 undergo healing. 



The only treatment required is to heal the sores. As milking is 

 the main cause of their persistence, that must be done as gently as 

 possible, or even with the teat tube or dilator. (PL XXIY, figs. 3 

 and 4.) It is essential to check the propagation of the germ, and 

 for this purpose the sore teats may be washed frequently with a 

 solution of half an ounce hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water. 

 This will usually check the inflammation and cut short the malady. 



SUPPRESSION OF MILK. 



The absence of milk in the udder may result from ill health, debil- 

 ity, emaciation, chronic disease of the bag, wasting of the gland 

 from j3revious disease, or insufficient feed, but sometimes it will 

 occur suddenly without any appreciable cause. The treatment con- 

 sists in removing the cause of the disease, giving rich albuminoid 

 feed made into warm mashes, and administering ounce doses of 

 aromatic carminatives, like anise seed, fennel seed, etc. Rubbing 

 and stripping the udder are useful; the application of oil of laven- 

 der or of turpentine, or even a blister of Spanish flies, will some- 

 times succeed. 



BLOODY MILK. 



Blood may escape with the milk when the udder has been injured 

 by blows ; also when it is congested or inflamed, when the circulation 

 through it has been suddenly increased by richer and more abundant 

 feed, or when the cow is under the excitement of heat. The milk 

 frothing up and assuming a pink tinge is often the first sign of red 

 water, and it may result from eating acrid or irritant plants, like the 

 Ranunculacea?, resinous plants, etc. Deposits of tubercle or tumors 

 in the udder, or induration of the gland, may be efficient causes, the 

 irritation caused by milking contributing to draw the blood. Finally, 



