THE NERVO0S SYSTEM. 205 



very complicated. The main resource in such cases should 

 be stimulants in small doses frequently repeated, a full 

 cathartic, and careful removal of any milk formed in the 

 mammae. It seems to be generally accepted that this 

 parturient apoplexy is the same as the disease of that, name 

 which affects the cow ; but that is a point which certainly 

 has not been proved, indeed it is doubtful whether any 

 true apoplectic lesions take place in the majority of cases, 

 the disease seems more a puerperal fever. 



Injuries to the Head induce cerebral symptoms varying 

 with the amount of the lesions and their distribution. In 

 addition to the more superficial effects, the following may 

 be noted : concussion of the brain, compression, lesions of 

 the meninges, and apoplexy. The animal in either case 

 is usually prostrated by the blow, and it requires great 

 care to determine the exact degree of injury in the dog. 

 It is generally considered that the stunned condition, loss 

 of motor and sensory power, which results immediately on 

 the injury, is due to concussion, that insensibility and 

 apoplectic symptoms occurring a short time after the 

 injury, are the result of extravasations, and that they are 

 also found in compression due to a depressed portion of 

 bone in fracture. As in true apoplexy, the compressed 

 part of the brain may in time accommodate itself to the 

 pressure on its surface, and recovery take place, but often 

 with the unequal power of the two sides of the body 

 indicated by the animal involuntarily inclining towards the 

 side where the compression has occurred. In a case 

 described by Professor Simonds, the skull of which is in 

 the museum of the London College, there was permanent 

 derangement of the locomotory powers after fracture of 

 the skull of a toy terrier by a quoit parallel with and to 

 one side of the sagittal suture, and the successful removal 

 of the depressed fragment. The animal when called used 

 to wag its tail and run in the opposite direction. In cases 

 of concussion, the loss of consciousness gradually wears off, 

 and there is a tendency to the development of indications 

 of inflammatory disorder of the encephalon. In such an 

 emergency the animal should be kept very quiet, and his 



