MA MM IT IS on MASTITIS. 693 



satisfactory results. In this direction warm fomentations and poultices 

 appear to be most grateful to the animal, and to dissipate the inllainma- 

 tion most readily. They must not be too hot, astlie skin of the udder 

 is so thin that it is easily injured by inordinate heat. Poultices of 

 linseed-meal, oatmeal, marsh-mallows, dough, etc., covered witli olive- 

 oil, laudanum, opium, or extract of belladonna, are especially to be 

 reeonunended, in preference to fomentations which retjuire much time; 

 and as they cannot be applied continually, the udder often sulVers from 

 the reaction — the change from heat to cold, though this may to some 

 extent be obviated by drying the parts well, and smearing them with 

 lard. An excellent poultice is furnished by spongio piline, which, if 

 covered externally by oiled silk, and holes made in it for the teats to 

 pass through, makes an excellent and clean cataplasm when steeped in 

 warm water and applied to the udder. Williams recommends " spent" 

 hops, which are very light, contain much moisture, are soothing, and do 

 not irritate when they become dry. The drying of a poultice can be 

 averted by placing it in a piece of waterproof material or oiled silk. 

 Poultices and other applications of this kind are best retained by a wide- 

 tailed bandage, in which are holes for the teats, and which, passing 

 upwards on each side at the flank, and back between the thighs, is 

 secured over the loins and croup. This bandage is at all times bene- 

 ficial in relieving the pain and congestion, by the support it affords the 

 swollen organ. It should therefore be adopted early. 



Lotions of belladonna, opium, tincture of camphor, poppy-heads, etc., 

 are convenient applications, and if warm do good ; but to prove eflica- 

 cious they umst be applied frequently, and at the commencement of 

 the disease. A sponge, or rubbing in with the hand, is the best means of 

 applying them. Fiirstenberg recommends continuous tepid alkaline 

 lotions a})plied by the hand for twenty-four to thirty-six hours ; and 

 Schaack asserts that, employed at the commencement, they have a 

 remarkable effect — often arresting the inflannnation in that interval, the 

 swelling disappearing in one or two days. 



Kychner states that nothing can equal the success resulting from the 

 employment of alkaline lotions. The owners of cattle in Switzerland 

 are well aware of this, and as soon as they observe the slightest altera- 

 tion in the milk of a Cow, they take a handful of wood-ashes, which 

 they moisten with milk, and making a lotion of tiie mixture rub 

 it on the udder. Rychner is of opinion that the potash in the ashes 

 prevents the coagulation of the milk in the udder — this coagulation 

 being, according to him, the point of departure or initial phenomenon of 

 mastitis. For this reason he gives the following recipe, which lias 

 obtained more success than any other, when applied before the 

 inflammation had attained its greatest intensity : 



Potass 1 part. 



Water - - - - - - - 2 parts. 



Olive-oil -^ M 



These are to be well mixed, and then four or five parts more water 

 are to be added. Often, after five or six hours, during which nothing 

 could be drawn from the teat except a small quantity of thin curdled 

 milk, there is obtained a whitish-yellow fluid, more like pus than milk, 

 which is a very favourable sign. 



Ointments and embrocations of various kinds are also employed — as 

 those of belladonna, henbane, moi-phia, camphor, laurel, etc. In 



