commonhj known as Dropping/ after Calvinc/. 255 
plethora of the vessels and changing the character of the fluid, 
and probably its action thereby over the entire nervous system. 
The influence of nerve force upon the amount of the lacteal 
secretion is doubtless best seen in the human subject, as is that 
of the character of the secretion itself. Dr. Carpenter, in his 
' Manual of Physiology,' says, " Under the influence of grief or 
anxiety the secretion of milk is either checked altogether, or it is 
diminished in amount and deteriorated in quality. The secre- 
tion is usually checked altogether by terror, and under the influ- 
ence of violent passion it may be so changed in its characters as 
to produce the most injurious and even fatal consequences to 
the infant." 
I quote this passage chiefly to show the probability of an 
alteration in the power of the mammary glands in secreting 
the first or colostric milk, as having an important and direct 
influence over the nervous system, or indirectly upon it through 
the quality of the blood ; this in turn depending upon the 
amount of fatty matter the circulating fluid contains, or, in 
other words, on the quantity of colostrum which is secreted 
immediately before or after parturition. It is not difficult to 
understand how, under such circumstances, the blood and the 
nervous system can act and re-act abnormally on each other. 
So closely attendant on parturition is an attack of the disease, 
that in a few instances the cow has fallen even before the birth 
of the calf had been completed. Parturient apoplexy, however, 
as a rule, occurs shortly after calving, and may happen at any 
time, as before stated, between the birth of the calf and the close 
of the fourth day. Why the liability should cease so soon 
is not easy to determine. It may possibly, as has been hinted 
at, depend on the excitability of the nervous system being now 
removed by the mammary glands having eliminated with the 
lacteal secretion a large proportion of the fatty matter of the blood 
in the cells of colostrum. In support of this view is the well- 
known fact that by this time the milk has to a great extent lost 
the characters of a colostric secretion. 
Doubtless this theory of the pathology of the disease is open 
to objection, and so, as it appears to me, is that which fixes 
primarily the disordered nerve force on the ganglionic nerves 
of the uterus. It has been supposed that some marked but 
undefined impress is made on these nerves by parturition, 
which is quickly conveyed to the cerebro-spinal and cerebral 
systems. If this be so, it is not difficult to account for the 
congested state of the vessels of the spinal cord and the brain, 
of which apoplexy essentially consists. The remarkable sudden- 
ness of the attack may also be said to favour the view of the 
nervous system being primarily and directly impressed. Thus 
a cow, in all respects in perfect health and exercising her 
