658 PATHOLOGY OF PARTUEITIOX. 



These are boiled together for about a quarter of an hour in four pints of 

 water, and one-fourth given every hour or every two hours. 



Harms places great confidence in tartar emetic. He gives eight and 

 a half drachms in about two pints of water, in four hours three drachms 

 in a pint of water, and in five hours two drachms. In one serious case 

 he gave as much as two ounces in fourteen hours. In thirty-seven 

 cases of the disease, only two died. 



When it is desired to increase the activity of any of the ordinary 

 purgatives, croton-oil is generally added in the proportion of six to 

 twelve — or even forty — drops, or oil of turpentine one or two ounces. 



Some practitioners extol nux vomica in tolerably large doses, to aid 

 in rousing the action of the intestines. 



Stim2ilants — a,s ammonia — are often administered, and in conjunc- 

 tion with bleeding they may prove of the greatest service at the com- 

 mencement of the attack, or they may be associated with the purgatives. 

 If given alone, they should be exhibited in small doses and very often. 

 Chloral hydrate has been commended. 



Other medicaments have been employed — as aconite, bryonia, 

 camphor, phosphorus, datura, quinine, gentian, digitalis, etc. — with 

 varying success. The subcutaneous injection of some of these medica- 

 ments has been much resorted to, and some of the reports as to their 

 eifects are in their favour. Strychnine has been administered in this 

 way, also veratrine and eserine, and their utility has doubtless been 

 due to their action on the bloodvessels, more especially the arteries and 

 capillaries. 



When recovei'y commences, small doses of stimulants may be bene- 

 ficial if there is much debility, and the animal can swallow readily. But 

 in the administration of fluids when the animal is comatose or degluti- 

 tion is impeded, the greatest care is necessary to prevent their entering 

 the trachea — an accident which might prove fatal. To test whether 

 the animal can swallow, a little cold water may be poured into the 

 mouth from a bottle. If swallowing is difficult, then the only safe 

 mode of administration is by the stomach-pump or probang, or directly 

 into the rumen by the trocar and cannula. Large quantities of fluids 

 are objectionable, and the amount in any single dose should not exceed 

 a pint. 



It must also be remembered that, if it is probable the animal will not 

 recover, but will be killed and its flesh consumed as food, drugs of a 

 poisonous kind, or likely to flavour the meat, should not be given. 

 Many cases are recorded in which people have been poisoned, through 

 eating of the flesh of Cows which had received large quantities of 

 poisonous medicines before being killed by the butcher. 



Electricity has been employed with success, both in the comatose 

 stage and when paralysis has remained after the attack. Neumann, 

 Holden, and others relate instances of recovery. The Leyden jar, or, 

 better, the induction coil, may be employed. 



To sum up, the treatment of parturient collapse consists chiefly in 

 relieving the congestion of the brain (at the commencement), restoring 

 the functions of and stimulating the skin, promoting the action of the 

 intestines, and removing the milk or stimulating the function of the 

 mammary gland. 



All violent and heroic treatment should be avoided, as well as large 

 doses of medicine. 



Consecutive congestion or inflammation of the lungs must be treated 



