DISEASES FOLLOWING P.^RTURITION. 227 



or it may extend so that the inflammation affects the lining membrane 

 of the whole abdominal cavity. In the last two cases the malady is a 

 very grave one. 



Causes. — The causes are largely the same as those causing inflam- 

 mation of the vagina. Greater importance must, however, be at- 

 tached to exposure to cold and wet and septic infection. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms appear two or three days after calving, 

 when the cow may be seen to shiver, or the hair stands erect, espe- 

 cially along the spine, and the horns, ears, and limbs are cold. The 

 temperature in the rectum is elevated by one or two degrees, the pulse 

 is small, hard, and rapid (70 to 100), appetite is lost, rumination 

 ceases, and the milk shrinks in quantity or is entirely arrested, and 

 the breathing is hurried. The hind limbs may shift uneasily, the tail 

 be twisted, the head and eyes turn to the right flank, and the teeth 

 are ground. With the flush of heat to the horns and other extremi- 

 ties, there is redness of the eyes, nose, and mouth, and usually a dark 

 redness about the vulva. Pressure on the right flank gives manifest 

 pain, causing moaning or grunting, and the hind limbs are moved 

 stiffly, extremely so if the general lining of the abdomen is involved. 

 In severe cases the cow lies down and can not be made to rise. There 

 is usually marked thirst, the bowels are costive, and dung is passed 

 with pain and effort. The hand inserted into the vagina perceives 

 the increased heat, and when the neck of the womb is touched the 

 cow winces with pain. Examination through the rectum detects 

 enlargement and tenderness of the womb. The discharge from the 

 vulva is at first watery, but becomes thick, yellow, and finally red or 

 brown, with a heavy or fetid odor. Some cases recover speedily and 

 may be almost well in a couple of days; a large proportion perish 

 within two days of the attack, and some merge into the chronic form, 

 terminating in leucorrhea. In the worst cases there is local septic 

 infection and ulceration, or even gangrene of the parts, or there is 

 general septicemia, or the inflammation involving the veins of the 

 womb causes coagulation of the blood contained in them, aiid the 

 washing out of the clots to the right heart and lungs leads to blocking 

 of the vessels in the latter and complicating pneumonia. Inflamma- 

 tions of the womb and passages after calving are always liable to 

 these complications, and consequently to a fatal issue. Franck 

 records three instances of rapidly fatal metritis in cows, all of which 

 had been poisoned from an adjacent cow with retained and putrid 

 afterbirth. Others have had similar cases. 



Treatment. — Treatment in the slight cases of simple inflammation 

 does not differ much from that adopted for vaginitis, only care must 

 be taken that the astringent and antiseptic injections are made to 

 penetrate into the womb. After having washed out the womb a solu- 

 tion of chlorid of lime or permanganate of jjotash (one-half ounce to 



