€54 PA THOL OG Y OF PARTURITIOX. 



reason to lay great stress on preventive treatment, and to combat the 

 predisposition to the malady by strict attention to hygiene, particularly 

 during the last months of pregnancy and immediately after parturition. 

 The diet should be soft and easily digested, so as to avert constipation, 

 and the allowance ought to be rather sparing. "When it is possible to 

 permit exercise for some time before parturition, this should not be with- 

 held. Nothing is so likely to prevent an attack of the disease than 

 keeping the Cow in as natural and free a condition as possible, with all 

 the functions of secretion and excretion in full jDlay, more especially at 

 birth and immediately after that occurrence. Exposure to cold and 

 currents of air, and everything likely to diminish the functions of the 

 skin, should likewise be avoided. 



More special precautions have been recommended by various authori- 

 ties, founded generally on the opinions they may have entertained as to 

 the pathology of the disease ; but the utility of these prophylactic 

 measures has been more or less disputed. Bleeding during the month 

 before parturition has been highly lauded, but there is every reason to 

 believe that it is more injurious than useful. Others recommend the 

 administration of nux vomica, tartar emetic, nitrate of potass, sulphate 

 of soda or magnesia, and laxatives of various kinds — all of which may 

 prove more or less useful ; while others, again, speak favourably of milk- 

 ing the Cow by hand a few days before calving, and thrice instead of 

 twice a day for a short time after that event, if the Calf is removed or 

 cannot abstract sufficient milk. This they more particularly insist upon 

 doing if the udder is largely developed or distended. 



As Cows which have had difficulty in calving, and whose genital 

 organs are more or less irritated or injured, are rarely attacked by 

 puerperal collapse, it has been suggested that a counter-irritant, such 

 as mustard, should be immediately applied to the loins or hind-quarters 

 of those which have calved easily and are likely to become affected. 



x\s there may be danger if the newly-calved Cow is allowed to drink 

 much cold water, this should either be very sparingly given, or, better 

 still, warm gruel, in small but frequent quantities, may be substituted. 



Curative Treatment. 



The different methods of treatment enumerated for the cure of this 

 disease are completely bewildering, and they are so diametrically 

 op].osed to each other — from the obscurity which prevails as to the 

 nature of the malady, it may be inferred — that we can scarcely be 

 astonished to find that they are all more or less unsuccessful, and that 

 the majority of the most observant practitioners are inclined to believe 

 that recovery has followed most frequently when, without adopting 

 active measures, the attendant has waited for the curative effects of 

 nature — usually decided about the second or third day, only attempt- 

 ing to combat certain morbid conditions w'hich might aggravate the 

 case. 



Nevertheless, it is evident that some mode of treatment must be 

 resorted to ; and that this should be based on the indications furnished 

 by the symptoms during the course of the malady, or upon what we 

 know of its pathology, is obvious. We shall glance at some of the 

 means which may be employed in the curative treatment of the 

 disease. 



Previous to doing so, however, attention must be directed to the ■position 

 of the affected animal, and we cannot do this in better terms than those 



