Puerperal Diseases of the Uterus 559 



signed for douching the sheath of the bull, attached to a 

 hospital irrigator. The irrigator should be elevated not 

 more than 20 to 24 inches above the cow. After douching, 

 or w^ithout having attempted to douche, there may be intro- 

 duced into the uterine cavity one to two pints of liquid par- 

 affin or other neutral oil in which there has been suspended 

 some powdered iodoform, bismuth subnitrate, or other vir- 

 tually insoluble antiseptic or deterrent of bacterial growth. 

 The uterus, in severe cases, must not be massaged. A mas- 

 sage cult has grown up recently in veterinary practice, and 

 massage is as frequently applied where harmful as else- 

 where. In septic metritis, it is wholly unjustifiable and ab- 

 solutely dangerous. 



Usually the animal neither eats nor drinks. She should 

 be permitted plenty of water if she will take it. She may 

 have a moderate supply of readily digestible food. The pa- 

 tient may have internally repeated small doses of strych- 

 nine, but in giving it the practitioner must be on his guard. 

 She is hyper-sensitive to its action, and will not tolerate 

 the dosage ordinarily advised by writers upon materia 

 medica. About one-half the dose which would usually be 

 given to an animal of the same size is abundant, but it may 

 be repeated within two hours. Drafts of strong hot coffee 

 may be used. Camphorated oil hypodermically and other 

 powerful stimulants may be given. The best that can be 

 done is to keep the patient comfortable and quiet, adminis- 

 ter stimulants prudently, and take advantage of every op- 

 portunity to ameliorate or remove untoward developments. 



The biology of this type of disease is too little known to 

 afford any tangible suggestion in the line of biologic thera- 

 peutics. 



There are certain possibilites for preventing septic me- 

 tritis. In the first place it may be partly prevented, as may 

 all genital infections, by the careful growing of calves in 

 such a manner as to minimize the amount of infection which 

 may gain a permanent habitat in the genital system. Much 

 may be done at the time of breeding by the application of 

 the principles of sex hygiene and by insuring, in so far as 



