MAMMITIS OR MASTITIS. 683 



process of suppuration destroys a greater or less number of the acini, 

 and the pus — deep-seated — is long before it reaches the surface of the 

 gland, causing great havoc in doing so. Sometimes the interstitial 

 abscess opens into a milk sinus, and partly escapes by the teat during 

 milking. The pus is then mixed with the serum of the milk, and perhaps 

 there are clots of casein and shreds of glandular tissue, the fluid having 

 a highly amraoniacal odour. The pain is less, but docs not cease, 

 and it is generally necessary to make an external opening for the 

 readier and more complete evacuation of the matter. There is 

 generally much destruction of tissue, and cicatrisation is diflicult and 

 tedious, particularly when there are lacteal fistulae. Not infrequently 

 the abscesses are multiple, and in some instances there are as many 

 as there are intlamed lobules. In other cases one abscess succeeds 

 another, owing to the presence of dead tissue in the mass of the gland. 



Even when the abscess opens externally, and the other quarters 

 yield milk, the pus is, of course, liable to pass into that lluid, and to 

 render it most objectionable as food. So that during the whole of the 

 suppurative period, tlie services of the Cow as a producer of milk 

 are lost. Such milk has usually a greyish tint, and often a peculiar 

 odour — something similar to that of pus. 



Filrstenberg has drawn attention to a cold abscess, often observed in 

 the udder of Cows more particularly, and due to the spontaneous 

 softening of a chronic tumour or induration — the softening being the 

 result of fatty degeneration. The tumour loses its hardness, and the 

 softening process gradually extends ; the skin covering the mass be- 

 comes pulpy and thin, and often the tumour opens spontaneously and 

 externally, a thick, yellowish kind of pus escaping ; or it may evacuate 

 its contents into one of the milk sinuses. 



The secretory function of one or more quarters of the mammae 

 may be quite destroyed — a serious result witli valuable Milch Cows. 



(jaii-jrcnc of the whole or a portion of the udder, is not an un- 

 usual termination of mammitis, and is, of course, tlie most serious 

 one, except the death of the annual. It may be limited or ditTused. 

 The first frecjuently succeeds phlegmonous mammitis, and particularly 

 when suppuration and diffuse or deep-seated abscess exists. In such a 

 case the suppurative process has isolated a large portion — say a 

 quarter — of the mammii; by the pus burrowing around it, and thus 

 cutting off its nutrition — the bloodvessels being the last to give way 

 to ulceration. The dead gland is encapsuled by its fibrous covering, 

 and there it may remain for some time unless removed by a large 

 opening — though sometimes the capsule gives way, and the mortified 

 mass is found lying on the ground among the feet of the animal. 

 In this way Nature gets rid of tlie diseased portion, and recovery be- 

 comes possible. The gangrene is generally limited by a dense band 

 of fibrous tissue. In many cases surgical interference is necessary 

 when the mammae mortify; and when this is judicious, and the 

 animal is not too weak or exhausted, success is complete ; though, of 

 course, the lacteal apparatus is mutilated and greatly damaged. 



When diffuse, gangrene of the mamma; is generally fatal. All the 

 domestic animals appear to be liable to gangrenous mammitis, but 

 more especially the Cow, Mare, and Sheep, the latter being oftenest 

 attacked. 



The symptoms are described as extraordinarily intense from the very 

 commencement. There is great depression of strength, and the animal 



