740 DISEASES AND ABKOllMALITIES OF THE YOIWO AXIMAL. 



rendered slightly laxative by the addition of cream of tartar or sulphate 

 of soda. 



If the constipation persists, purgatives may be administered. These 

 may be castor-oil, manna, sulphate of soda, aloes, etc. If there is pain 

 from 10 to 20 drops of chlorodyne in water should be administered. 

 Frequent enemas will aid the action of the purgatives. 



Sometimes constipation is due to giving too rich food, or, in artificial 

 rearing, to an excessive allowance of meal or flour. The treatment will 

 be the same. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

 Eclampsia of Young Animals. 



This nervous affection has been observed in the CaK, Pig, and Dog 

 within a variable period after birth, and presents somewhat the same 

 features as that disease (eclamjjsia infantum) in young children. 



Si/mjjtoms. 



In the Calf no premonitory symptoms have been observed, except 

 that perhaps when it goes to the teat it is not so hvely as usual, lags 

 behind the other Calves, and is rather unsteady on its limbs. Before 

 it catches the teat, or very soon after, it is suddenly and violently seized 

 with spasms of the voluntary muscles ; all the limbs become rigid, the 

 jaws are convulsively champed, and foam flows from the mouth ; in a 

 few minutes the creature begins to bellow loudly and repeatedly, and to 

 perform strange antics — jumping forward as if thrown by a powerful 

 spring, and heedless of injury. The eye looks haggard and wild, the 

 respiration is hurried, and the heart beats tumultuously. When held, 

 it continues to struggle and bellow ; at last exhaustion ensues after an 

 hour or two, and if the Calf does not succumb it lies in a state of extreme 

 lassitude for a long time ; then it gradually regains its faculties, and in 

 the course of some days is well again ; but for some months it does not 

 look thriving, and not infrequently there is a renewal of the attacks 

 before that time elapses. 



The animal may die from the first or second attack — rarely it has 

 more than two. Revel^ states, that of eleven Calves on a farm, five 

 were affected — three males and two females ; the males perished at the 

 first seizure, but the females survived it, though one of them died from 

 a second attack three days subsequently, the other remaining well. 



In the Pig the symptoms are similar. Before the seizure the creature 

 perhaps sucks less than usual ; it begins to cry and become restless — 

 running here and there and standing up against the side of its sty, 

 screaming loudly ; suddenly the screams cease, the animal falls down 

 in convulsions ; the respiration is noisy, the eyes pirouette in their 

 orbits, the masseter muscles have clonic spasms, the limbs are violently 

 agitated, and there is loss of sensation and consciousness. The attack 

 may continue for a variable period — from fifteen minutes to an hour or 

 more, and death may occur at the first, second, or third attack — it is. 

 usually the second. 



In the Dog the symptoms differ very little from those just described. 



^ Revue Viterinaire, 1S79, p. 356. 



