ECLA.VI'SfA. 667 



As in parturient collapse, the changes found after death are far from 

 being constant in the human female. Dupaul found cerebral congestion 

 in very many of the women wlio had died suddenly from an attack, and 

 Stoltz states he noted this condition in all his autopsies ; but McDonald 

 discovered only congestion of the meninges, extreme anajmia of the 

 cerebro-spinal centres, and no evidence of oedema. 



Diag)iosis. 



After the description given of the symptoms, a diagnosis of the malady 

 should not be ditlicult. The history of the case, and the pregnant or 

 parturient condition of the animal, should be of service in distinguishing 

 the malady from epilepsy. Eclampsia in Cows might be mistaken for 

 parturient collapse, but it should be remembered that the latter generally 

 occurs at and after the third calving, rarely indeed during pregnancy, 

 and usually within two days after parturition ; that it is most common 

 in fat or plethoric animals ; that the animal always falls down ; that 

 though there may be excitement and struggling, there are no convulsions, 

 and coma rapidly ensues. 



Prognosis. 



According to some authorities, eclampsia in animals is a veiy benig- 

 nant disease, but others assert that when treatment is not adopted — 

 in the case of Bitches at least — death is the ordinary termination. 

 With the Cow it is not a serious malady. Saint-Cyr gives three deaths 

 in eleven cases, some of which had not been medically treated. Clark 

 had only two fatal cases during twenty-five years' practice, and these 

 were not treated. So that the prognosis should not be unfavourable if 

 proper treatment is timeously adopted. There do not appear to be any 

 notable sequela?, as a rule, though Clark mentions a case in which the 

 animal, a Cow, lay for a month after the convulsions disappeared, and 

 became permanently blind. 



Treat7nc7it. 



Hertwig reconnnends the abstraction of blood from the jugular, the 

 quantity varying with the size and condition of the animals ; and he 

 asserts that frequently all the symptoms diminish considerably, or even 

 disappear, while the blood is flowing. After the bleeding, he administers 

 a spoonful of tea every four or six hours, with small doses of nitrate of 

 potass. If the bowels are constipated, an enema is to be given. Zundel 

 has been particularly successful with the syrup of chloroform, which, in 

 small and frequent doses, keeps the animal in a state of semi-anuisthesia ; 

 the cure being terminated by a dose of laxative medicine and one or two 

 enemas. The syrup of ether produces the same effect as the chloroform, 

 though less quickly and surely. 



Bromide of camphor has been favourably spoken of, as has chloral 

 given by the mouth and in enema. Clark lauds belladonna as almost a 

 specific, in doses of from two to three drachms, repeated in two or three 

 hours, if necessary ; he finds the glycerol of belladonna (equal parts of 

 glycerine and belladonna) a most convenient preparation, as it is easily 

 dispensed and readily miscible with water. He believes bleeding may 

 be of service in the more urgent cases when belladonna fails to arrest 

 the attack, though he is not much in favour of it. 



