568 Diseases occurring after Parturition in Cows and Sheep, 



somewhat more than her fore quarters, and a quart of gruel, to 

 which half an ounce of a watery solution of opium or extract 

 of belladonna has been added, should be gently injected into 

 the rectum. The couples and loins should be frequently 

 fomented, or a fresh sheep-skin may be closely applied, and re- 

 tained for some time upon them. In urgent cases, a sufficient 

 quantity of mustard, made into a paste with spirits of turpentine, 

 may be well rubbed into the region of the right flank, and for a 

 considerable distance around. Care should be taken to arrest 

 any formation of gas in the paunch ; to which end, half-ounce 

 doses of the chlorinated lime may be given in a little cold water. If 

 this be inefficient, the stomach may be punctured with a trochar, 

 as in the ordinary operation for the relief of hoove, and the 

 canula of the instrument allowed to remain. In many cases, 

 particularly in heifers, the state of exhaustion and collapse will 

 from the first be excessive, especially if there has been a pro- 

 longed labour. The animal will throw itself flat upon its side, 

 with the head stretched out ; occasionally she kicks at her abdo- 

 men, the breathing is accelerated, the pulse can hardly be felt, 

 or perhaps not at all. No bleeding must be practised here, 

 but the local fomentations, extending to the shape and udder, must 

 be unremittingly followed up. The liquor ammoniae acetatis, 

 in eight-ounce doses, with two ounces each of nitric spirits of 

 ether and laudanum, should be administered and repeated every 

 four hours, until the animal become tranquil and lie in a natural 

 position. If the prostration of strength be extreme, carbonate of 

 ammonia, in half-ounce doses, may occasionally be advantageously 

 exhibited, and even from two to three ounces of spirits of turpen- 

 tine may be tried. Two or three quarts of warm oatmeal gruel, 

 with a pint of sound ale or porter, should be given every four or 

 six hours in the intervals of the medicine ; and if she will partake 

 of chilled water, any quantity may be allowed. 



Profuse haemorrhage from the womb, shortly after calving, is 

 never met with ; but there is a passive haemorrhage, which is 

 commonly classed with the disease called Red Water. This 

 latter affection occurs ordinarily in a few days after calving. The 

 urine, when voided, is of a scarlet hue, and, if placed aside to 

 settle, clots will be formed ; chemical analysis proves these to be 

 composed of veritable blood. This haemorrhage occurs from the 

 kidneys ; the office of these glands is to separate from the blood 

 passing through them the urine, and from some sympathy with 

 the womb, which lies in their immediate neighbourhood, or from 

 their being unduly excited during the time of parturition, or from 

 that tendency to the localization of fever at this period which 

 has been before adverted to, their secretory function is disordered, 

 and blood itself is separated from the vessels as well as urine. 



