ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN TIIE COW. 
489 
A veterinary surgeon who was summoned immediately detected 
the cause of the mischief in the great admixture of ranunculi with 
the grass: he, therefore, recommended that the bleedings should 
be discontinued, and a dose of sulphuric aether be given in milk to 
all the affected animals. Under this treatment the alarming symp- 
toms quickly subsided, and although for a few days some of the 
sheep remained very feeble and tottering on their legs, the re- 
mainder completely recovered. 
Medical and Chirurgical Review. 
ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN THE COW, 
By Mr. JOHN BARLOW, V.S., Oak Farm , Wilm,slow , Cheshire . 
There was a time when the practice of veterinary medicine 
was confined almost exclusively to persons who considered that an 
attainment in scientific information was in no way conducive to its 
successful pursuit, but by whom the possession of a little mecha- 
nical tact, and of a few recipes, composed frequently of inert or in- 
effectual ingredients, were deemed sufficient passports to practice. 
This state of things is now rapidly declining, and veterinary 
surgeons, instead of receiving as unexceptionable the opinions and 
dogmas of their predecessors, only so far adopt them as consistent 
with the present state of knowledge on anatomy, physiology, and 
pathology — sciences the more intimate acquaintance with which 
will prove our surest guides in any application of surgical or thera- 
peutical remedies. Yet, even still we have occasionally to wit- 
ness the fact, that ignorance obscures a dawn of brighter days, and 
operates in a manner highly injurious to the full application of 
correct principles, when at variance with popularly received opi- 
nions in themselves erroneous. 
This, when applied to our profession, is most evident in that 
department which relates to the diseases of horned cattle ; and it is 
not until we are able practically to shew the public our full qua- 
lification and superior ability in treating this class of patients, in 
comparison with the cowleech or farrier, that we shall receive those 
tokens of confidence of which we may suppose ourselves deserving. 
Although some of you may not expect or intend, in your future 
professional course, to practise much in this department, yet there 
are others of whose avocations it must necessarily form a large 
part, and who are fully sensible of its importance ; while there can 
scarcely be any so far exempt from the uncertainty of occasional 
