DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION. 239 



BLOODY MILK. 



Blood may escape with the milk when the udder has been injured 

 by blows, also when it is congested or inflamed, when the circulation 

 through it has been suddenly increased by richer and more abundant 

 food, or when the cow is under the excitement of heat. The milk 

 frothing up and assuming a pink tinge is often the first sign of red- 

 water, and it may result from eating acrid or irritant plants, like the 

 Ranunculacese, resinous plants, etc. Deposits of tubercle or tumors 

 in the udder, or induration of the gland, may be efficient causes, the 

 irritation caused by milking contributing to draw the blood. Finally, 

 there may be a reddish tinge or sediment when madder or logwood has 

 been eaten. 



In milk which becomes red after it is drawn it may be due to the 

 presence in it of the Micrococcus prodigiosus. This also grows on 

 bread, and is the explanation of the supposed miracle of the "bleed- 

 ing host. " 



The treatment will vary with the cause. In congested glands give 

 1 pound of Epsom salts, and daily thereafter one-half ounce saltpeter, 

 with a dram of chlorate of potash; bathe the bag with hot or cold 

 water, and rub with camphorated lard. If the food is too rich or 

 abundant it must be reduced. If from acrid plants these must be 

 removed from pasture or fodder. Induration of the udder may be 

 met by rubbing with a combination of iodin ointment 1 part, soft 

 soap 2 parts; or mercurial ointment and soap may be used. Careful 

 milking is imperative. 



BLUE MILK. 



Watery milk is blue, but the presence of a germ {Bacillus cyanogenes) 

 causes a distinct blue shade even in rich milk and cream. It may 

 reach the milk after it has been drawn, or it may find its way into the 

 opening of the milk ducts and enter the milk as it is drawn. In the 

 latter case, frequent milking and the injection into the teats of a solu- 

 tion of 2 drams of hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water will serve 

 to destroy them. 



STRINGY MILK. 



This may be caused by fungi developing in the liquid, and that the 

 spores are present in the system of the cow may be safely inferred 

 from the fact that in a large herd two or three cows only will yield 

 such milk at a time, and that after a run of ten days or a fortnight 

 they will recover and others will be attacked. I have found that such 

 affected cows had the temperature raised one or two degrees above the 

 others. Like most other fungi this does not grow out into filaments 

 within the body of the cow, -but in five or six hours after milking the 

 surface layers are found to be one dense network of filaments. If a 

 needle is dipped in this and lifted, the liquid is drawn out into a long 



