Diseases Immediately Connected with Parturition. 165 
should at once seek for the cause, which may frequently be 
discovered in those conditions I have named as influencing 
the human secretion. 
A regular and healthy supply of milk is most desirable, 
and therefore comfort and proper management must be 
observed—in fact, it is most essential that due regard 
should be paid to the prevention of all emotional disturbance 
in connection with the nursing of the young. Of course 
the influence of habitual interference on the part of the 
master, or other members of the family, is not so deleterious 
as the advent of strange intrusion. Independently, how- 
ever, of the modifying influence of external circumstances, 
I should still urge the wisdom of quietude and comfort. 
The sensation of fear by the removing of a whelp is 
not always subdued on its restoration to the mother, but 
frequently continues to operate in the same direction, par- 
ticularly with sensitive, timid bitches. 
The first lacteal secretion, termed the “ colostrum,” which 
has a purgative effect on the offspring, and whose office is 
to cleanse the bowels of the meconium which is present at 
birth, is changed during the first week into milk proper, 
and therefore it will be readily seen that any action or influ- 
ence which tends to this necessary alteration must have 
a serious influence on the condition of the young, for if the 
colostrum is retained, prolonged relaxation of the bowels 
must result, and under the effects of “scour” puppies 
rapidly decline. 
The influence of a disturbing emotion on the intestinal 
canal or urinary apparatus, is well-known in the human 
subject, and precisely the same will apply to the lacteal 
organs. That a diminution of canine infantile mortality 
will result from due consideration of these remarks is my 
hope. Whether or not, it should always be remembered 
that a powerful instinctive desire is present in all 
animals, especially carnivora, to protect their young, and 
the less they are meddled with the better. 
