492 
ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN THE COW. 
preserve the proper balance; indeed, the patient will frequently 
support herself against the stall. 
The cowherd, now fancying something wrong, informs his 
master, who probably subtracts a few pints of blood, and administers 
some favourite drench. These means, however, seldom produce any 
other effect than that of delaying the assistance of a practitioner 
until any remedies he may apply, however judiciously directed, 
will, by the delay, be rendered completely ineffectual. He, per- 
haps, having had some distance to travel, finds on his arrival every 
symptom increased in severity. The cow has fallen, and is coma- 
tose, with her head turned upon the side, or prostrate, from inability 
in the cervical muscles to support it. The rumen is distended, 
causing deep groans during respiration ; the powers of motion and 
sensation are diminishing ; the ears hang pendulous ; there is im- 
perfect or total insensibility of light applied to the eye, or of 
stimulus to the eyelids ; the power of deglutition, if not entirely 
abolished, is much impaired ; there are no evacuations ; the pulse 
is intermitting; with cold extremities, stertorous breathing, and 
unconscious dashing about of the head. 
The intensity of these symptoms increases. On raising the 
head the lower jaw hangs pendulous. Should any liquid be ad- 
ministered, from an absence of sensation and motor power in the 
pharynx and larynx it passes directly into the trachea, occasion- 
ing spasm and sometimes death. The pulse acquires a feeble 
stroke, but increases in quickness. The breathing, from accumu- 
lating mucus, becomes more and more stertorous. The pupil is 
contracted. The sphincters lose their full power, and, should the 
head be lower than the body, food will return from the stomach 
involuntarily, occasioning an intolerable stench. Such state hav- 
ing supervened, I never knew a cow recover. 
These symptoms are, as may naturally be supposed, more 
intense in some cases than others, necessarily influencing their 
duration. Sometimes, after falling, the cow will struggle violently, 
endeavouring to rise, and which she will sometimes accomplish. 
I always regard this as a favourable prognosis. Death, however, 
may occur in six, eight, or twelve hours. Sometimes the animal 
lives twenty-four or thirty-six hours, or more. 
A notice of causes inducing this disease involves many import- 
ant considerations, due attention to which I conceive necessary 
properly to account for the morbid phenomena exhibited. The 
cow, of all other animals, is destined to afford the largest amount 
of that wholesome and nutritious beverage, milk. A constant sup- 
ply of this fluid is a considerable demand upon the constitution in 
certain states, in some of which only it is yielded largely : these 
are, in an unimpregnated condition of the uterus, and during the 
