MA MM IT IS nil MASTITIS. 681 



by heat, and having little cream or sugar. But it gradually recovers 

 its usual composition and increases in quantity, imtil at last, in amount 

 and quality, it does not differ from that furnished by the other quarters 

 of the mamniic. It sometimes happens, however, that with regard to 

 the lacteal secretion, though the gland regains its normal si/e and soft- 

 ness, it does not acquire its full functional activity until the next 

 pregnancy and tiie next period of lactation. Complete recovery appears 

 to take place during the period when the Cow is " dry." 



With the Cow, it generally requires four to five weeks before resolu- 

 tion is complete ; with the Goat the period is less, and it is still less 

 with the Mare. 



Atrophji of the gland occurs generally when resolution is not com- 

 plete. All the indications of that change are present, though they take 

 place more slowly ; but the lacteal secretion does not return — recovery 

 is not perfect. 



The glandular acini, obliterated by the proliferation of the interstitial 

 connective tissue or the inflammatory exudation which took place in 

 their interior, are no longer capable of performing their function ; and in 

 proportion as these products of inflammation are absorbed after its sub- 

 sidence, so does the diseased gland diminish in volume, and the mammic 

 become deformed and asymmetrical ; the teat retracts and assumes an 

 abnormal direction, and little, if any, milk can be obtained from it. 

 On manipulation, instead of the gland structure, nothing can be felt 

 but a very firm, dense mass, which feels like indurated connective 

 tissue, having in its texture some isolated nodules that appear to be, 

 and really are, lobules of the gland which have remained intact, and 

 yet secrete the little milk that is yielded. The loss of a quarter of the 

 mammic in Milch Cows is, of course, a somewhat serious termination, 

 so far as the yield of milk is concerned, as this is materially diminished. 

 Nevertheless, the other quarters sometimes partially compensate, by 

 their increased activity, for the injury, and the animal is otherwise in 

 good health. 



Induration is not at all an uncommon termination of mammitis, 

 especially in the Cow and Bitch, and is often the point of departure, in 

 the latter animal, of various and serious degenerations of the gland 

 tissue. 



This termination is to be apprehended, in the Cow, when the inflam- 

 mation persists in a somewhat acute manner beyond the sixth or eighth 

 day. Then the general symptoms diminish, the animal suffers less 

 pain, the appetite returns, as well as rumination, if any oedema was 

 present it has disappeared, but yet the gland does not regain its 

 healthy character. The inflammation has gone, the morbid products 

 are partly absorbed, but in different parts of the substance of the 

 gland there are more or less voluminous, well-de6ned, and rounded 

 masses which have an almost stony hardness, and are apparently 

 adherent to the surrounding tissues. These are evidently indurated 

 lobules which have not undergone resolution, and their secretory 

 power is therefore lost. 



In other instances in which the inflammation has been very in- 

 tense, recovery does not even proceed so far. The febrile symptoms 

 disappear, and the pain in the udder to some extent diminishes, as 

 well as the swelling ; though for a long time the local temperatiire 

 is higher than usual, and the animal evinces uneasiness when it lies 

 down. The induration of the swollen gland, often visible externally, 



