404 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



disinfection of the caudal stump, the infection reached the 

 croup and the skin became under-run with crepitant infil- 

 tration. Further surgical treatment proved futile and the 

 animal died. 



I wish to report briefly that while in the service of the 

 college clinic, M. Mathis had occasion to observe the dis- 

 ease twice. One was the sequel of an abortion, and the 

 other of castration of a bull. In both of these cases bac- 

 teriological examination and inoculation gave positive re- 

 sults. 



The disease may result from the puncture of a san- 

 guineous sac. It may complicate abortion, castration, and 

 penetrations of the heart by foreign bodies. It may follow 

 parturient metritis, may supervene the lancing of an ab- 

 scess, and finally it may result as a compHcation of mam- 

 mitis. 



SYMPTOMS IN THE OX.— It nearly always appears 

 four or five days after parturition. It begins by the appear- 

 ance of a rapidly advancing oedema that surrounds the vulva, 

 and then descends into the limbs and surmounts the pelvis 

 and back. The oedema is crepitant, and painful at the start 

 but becomes insensitive after several hours. It gives to the 

 patient the special physiognomy of being insufiiated with 

 air. Later the vulva presents a shapeless tumefaction of 

 variable volume. The skin of the vulva-lips is tense, shiny 

 and purple, and the lumbar region is insensitive to pressure. 

 During the time these local symptoms evolve, general 

 symptoms of real gravity also appear. The patient trem- 

 bles, staggers, hangs the head, arches the back and pre- 

 sents an anxious expression. Frequently the animals are 

 down and refuse to rise except by repeated urging. The 

 ears are cold, the muzzle dry and the eyes sunken. The 

 respirations are accelerated to 50 or 60, and the pulse to 

 100 or no. When the infection is not a mixed one the dis- 



