958 Veterinary Obstetrics 



Modern therapeutics recognizes the value of increased numbers 

 and activity of leucocytes in a diseased area. Cupping, massage, 

 I repeated milking, fomentations, and the application of stimulating 

 liniments or ointments, all probablj' favor leucocytosis. It may 

 be that the chief value of each of these applications lies in this 

 influence upon the abundance of leucocytes in the part. 



3. It has been proposed to exert a favorable influence upon the 

 course of mammitis by decreasing the flow of milk. In a way, 

 this plan is closely allied to the decreasing of the blood supply to 

 the gland. In considering the symptoms of the malady, we had 

 occasion to note the inevitable decrease of milk secretion, or even 

 its total suspension, as soon as mammitis becomes established. 

 The artificial checking of the secretion of milkis usually quite 

 unnecessary ; it becomes checked or suspended -as an inevitable 

 consequence of the disease. Not only is the secretion of milk 

 decreased or suspended in the affected quarter, but also in the 

 sound areas of the gland. 



Nevertheless many practitioners would have us decrease the 

 milk secretion by the application of belladona or camphor to the 

 exterior of the affected gland. Others recommend reduction of 

 lactation by a reduced diet or by laxatives or purgatives. 

 Whether or not these be of direct value in precisely the way in- 

 tended, is possibly of no great consequence. Two essential thera- 

 peutic principles are involved : i . The maintainance of the vigor 

 of the animal system — as a whole ; and, 2. The placing of the 

 diseased organ at rest. We cannot maintain the highest systemic 

 vigor upon a too restricted diet, and it is equally injurious to 

 overfeed. The forced feeding of dairy cows is highly inimical to 

 the progress of mammitis, just as it is of any other serious organic 

 malady. It is consequently important that, in mammitis, the 

 food rations be adjusted to the needs of a sick animal, and this in 

 itself will reduce the tendency to active lactation. For this pur- 

 pose it is well to allow a restricted ration of bran, roots or grass, 

 freely salted, to emphasize the laxative tendency. 



4. Elimination of disease products from the system. 

 Acute mammitis is inevitably accompanied by the entrance into 

 the system of important disease products which more or less se- 

 riously affect the general health of the patient. These disturb- 

 ances are reflected back to the affected organ, there to intensify 

 the local disease. Not only is it important, for the progress of 



