PARTURITION FEVER. 



409 



ture. The etiological rôle which a few authors have ascribed to the 

 action of cold is not demonstrated by facts. Ordinarily the disease 

 develops in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after parturition ; 

 very seldom after the third day, more rarely at the time of delivery ; 

 there are, however, isolated observations of ante-partum parturition 

 fever. It has never been recognized before the starting of milk 

 secretion (Miiller, Sohngen, Albrecht, Briiller). We must point 

 out that in natural parturition there is always quite a long interval 

 between the relaxation of the os uteri and the expulsion of the 

 foetus, and the cases of ante-partum vitulary fever are immediately 

 produced after relaxtion of the os ; this latter phenomenon is impor- 

 tant from a pathological point of view, for it explains how certain 

 processes of decomposition may take place in the gravid uterus. 



Franck makes the statement that there exists in the ox a disease 

 identical with that of parturient fever in the cow ; but we question 

 whether the authors who have mentioned such examples have not 

 had to do with other diseases, especially with affections of the spinal 

 cord or of the brain, or with poisonings. 



Pathological anatomy. This presents nothing, or almost 

 nothing, characteristic. Ordinarily the uterus is greatly retracted, 

 without the existence of any wound or inflammatory alteration of 

 the mucous membrane. Especially noticeable is the irregular dis- 

 tribution of the blood in the organism ; the abdominal viscera are 

 the seat of a much more intense hyperemia than the other organs. 

 In numerous cases the brain does not offer anything abnormal ; 

 sometimes, however, the meninges are congested and filled with 

 ecchymoses ; we may also notice internal or external hydrocephalus 

 by transudation of a slightly yellowish liquid; finally, we often 

 find the brain markedly anemic, œdematized, friable, gelatin-like, 

 and with its cortical substance colored yellow. The buccal, nasal, 

 and pharyngeal cavities are ordinarily filled with alimentary mat- 

 ters ; the desiccation of the contents of the third stomach, which 

 was formerly considered to be characteristic of the affection, is 

 found in most diseases accompanied by anorexia or adipsia ; it is, 

 therefore, but an alteration altogether accessory. As a rule, the 

 other organs are normal ; hyperemia of the sympathetic mentioned 

 by Binz, and the presence of air in the bloodvessels (Harms), are 

 lesions devoid of any importance. 



Symptoms. The affection commences almost always with a 

 slight anxiety ; the animals stamp and make expulsive exertions ; 



