414 



DISEASES OF THE GENITAL GROANS. 



3. Spasms and general excitement should be combated by mor- 

 phine injections, injections of hydrate of chloral, inhalations of 

 chloroform, etc. The antispasmodic drinks (chamomile decoctions, 

 valerian, fennel, anise, cumin, etc.), must be avoided on account of 

 the dangers which are incurred by their administration. 



[The disease is one which causes very great loss to ♦our owners 

 of dairy stock, taking off as it does the best and most valuable ani- 

 mals ; the question of prevention, therefore, offers far more interest 

 to our stock-owners and veterinarians than does that of cure» 

 Bleeding these animals a few days prior to parturition, taking a 

 liberal quantity of blood, will prove absolutely effective as a pre- 

 ventive and will not be productive of the slightest harm to either 

 the foetus or the mother. It is also one of the best curative meas- 

 ures at our disposal. — w. l. z.] 



III. Puerperal Septicemia Complicated by Paralysis. 



At an advanced period of the septic form of parturition fever it 

 is quite common to see the disease becoming complicated by poison- 

 ing. The special literature on this subject contains quite a number 

 of these cases, which have contributed toward altering the opinions 

 formerly expressed upon the nature of parturition fever. But the 

 dual character of the final affection was recognized very soon. In 

 ending the description of " inflammatory vitulary fever, Hering 

 in his Pathology says : " Then a great weakness occurs and also 

 paralysis affecting principally the hind quarters ; this state repre- 

 sents the paralytic form of vitulary fever ! 



This ensemble of pathological phenomena, no matter how compli- 

 cated they seem, is nevertheless explained by the duality in the 

 nature of the uterine infectious matters ; some, purely toxic, are 

 absorbed when the uterus is intact ; the others, septic, reach the 

 organism by penetrating the tissue through wounds on the surface 

 of the uterus. According to the predominance of absorption of one 

 or the other, the manifestations are very different. There are cases 

 in which we observe symptoms of the paresis of parturition together 

 with the anatomical alterations of septic inflammation of the uterine 

 mucous membrane. We could, by synthetic study, demonstrate this 

 assertion and support our opinion upon the possible synchronism of 

 the septic and paralytic forms of the disease, but we prefor to report 

 here one of our observations, which affords valuable aid toward 

 deciding the pending question. We refer to a clinical case in which^ 



