PARTURIENT APOPLEXY— PUERPERAL COLLAPSE. G41 



of the boily. Ailani^ believes that ten per cent, of the Cows which 

 recover from parturient collapse eventually die of pneumonia, due to 

 extraneous matters introduced during the paralysed condition of the 

 pharynx. Sometimes the animal appears to be almost recovered from 

 the attack of parturient apoplexy, when symptoms of lung congestion 

 or intiammatiou are suddenly developed, and death soon occurs. 

 Paralysis of the a>sophagus, which may persist for some days after 

 recovery, has in some cases been the cause of death from choking. 



Another complication of parturient apoplexy, is the so-called milk- 

 metastasis which does not appear to have been noted in this country, 

 but which is alluded to by Violet in France, Bentele, Born, and Franck 

 in Germany, and AUemani in Italy. Occasionally there is observed 

 after an attack of the disease, a white, milky-looking emulsion similar 

 to chyle, expelled as urine, or as a discharge from the nostrils ; and at 

 one time it was imagined that this was the milk which, instead of 

 being got rid of by the mammie, was absorbed or retained in the blood, 

 acted upon the nervous centres, and was then expelled in this vicarious 

 manner. 



Though no analyses appear to have been made of this fluid, Franck 

 is of opinion that the fluid is only the normal secretions mixed with 

 lymph. The milk-metastasis theory is untenable, as it is quite opposed 

 to what we know of the lacteal secretion, especially during this disease.'-' 



With regard to parah/sis, this is not evident until the animal recovers 

 consciousness, and begins to look bright and anxious for food, when it 

 is found that it cannot be made to rise. The paralysis may affect 

 various parts, but it is usually limited to one limb, to the two hind- 

 limbs (parapkiiia), or to one side of the body {hemiplegia). Saake says 

 he has sometimes seen instances in which the fore-limbs were paralysed, 

 while the posterior ones could be moved freely. In certain cases the 

 paralysis of limbs is accompanied by muscular atrophy. 



Amaurosis is readily discovered from the animal being blind. It is 

 generally persistent. Breulet, Gabler, Dommelen and Festal have 

 recorded instances. 



Gangrene of certain parts — feet and teats — is often met with in some 

 parts of Holland. The Cow will have recovered from an attack of 

 parturient collapse from ten to fifteen days, when a fcetid fluid is found 

 exuding from between the claws and around the coronets of the hind- 

 feet ; soon a line of demarcation forms about the middle of the shanks, 

 and this is quickly followed by complete sphacelus of the extremities. 



* Worhen-^rhrijl fiir T/iier/ieilhinilf, 1S70-71. 



- I5entele ( Wochenarhrift fur ThierUtilkundc, IS.')?, p. 145) states that a Cow attacked 

 by calvingfever, lay for sixty hours in a state of lethargy. The urine, which was passed 

 six hours afterwards, waa milk (?) with clots — as if boiled — in it. The animal recovered 

 from the attack, but some weeks later it had to be killed in con8c<{Uence of diseased lungs 

 — proK-ibly pm-nmonia from extraneous m.itters. 



Born (Anacker's I hifrnrzt, 1871, ]). 270) relates a case in which milk flowed from the 

 nostrils of % Cow that was affected with calving-fever. 



Allemani (// Moliro Vftf.rinar'ta, 1870, p. 289) tells us of a Cow-proprietor who 

 believed one of his CoW'* pa-nsed milk instead of urine. The supposed milk — which w.is 

 of a yellowish- white clour — contained epithelium from the bladder, a large (piantity of 

 epithelium from the kidney, lymph-corpuscles, and albumin. After some days this 

 condition disappeared. The fluid did not coagulate spontaneously. 



Violet (Saint-Cyr"s TraiU d'Obsttfnque Vileriiiaire, p. 1072) found a similar condition 

 of the urine. This came away through the catheter with much force, and it was so 

 white that the attendants thought it was milk. It was also foamy and effervescent, like 

 champagne or bottled beer. The animal recovered, but the urine was slightly effervtscent 

 for some days. 



41 



