498 
ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN THE COW. 
I never saw any morbid appearance in ihe arachnoid membrane 
itself. It is somewhat difficult of demonstration in the cow, except 
on the convexity of each hemisphere. There exists, however, 
almost uniformly, an evident increase of sub-arachnoid, cerebral, 
and spinal fluid. 
Having detached these, we come to the pia mater, a membrane 
almost invariably exhibiting either intense congestion or inflam- 
matory action. The minute bloodvessels ramifying over its sub- 
stance may, on slicing the cerebrum, be perceived to impart at 
times a diffused blush to the centrum ovale. This appearance is 
evident also in the spinal marrow, more especially at its lumbar 
portion. 
On opening the cerebral ventricles, we find, if the case has been 
severe, considerable effusion of serum therein, with intense con- 
gestion of the choroid plexus, velum-interpositum, and cerebellar 
choroid plexus. Sometimes there have been clots of blood disco- 
vered in the brain at its under surface, and within the spine also. 
In both spinal and cerebral substances there are frequently com- 
plete structural derangements, consisting in uniform softening of 
their tissues, some parts assuming an appearance of homogeneous 
red paste. In a specimen of this disease, presented to the London 
Veterinary Medical Society, some years ago, by Mr. Robinson, 
V.S., of Tam worth, there was, in addition to such appearances as 
we have noticed, ecchymosisof the large nerves, particularly of the 
sciatic and sympathetic. 
There is also another morbid appearance often present, which 
does not seem to have attracted much notice, namely, swelling of 
the brain from congestion of its substance, thereby rendering com- 
pression within the bony case as equally effectual in destroying ner- 
vous power as effusion itself. This is evident ; for on removing 
the investing bone, its cortical substance immediately elevates its 
enveloping membranes above their previous boundary. 
We now propose to make a few observations on the pathology 
of this disease in connexion with its symptoms and post-mortem 
appearances, for I can say little more by way of evidence to prove 
its existence in the nervous centres, or that it essentially consists 
in congestion of that structure, and, in many cases, of speedy effu- 
sion into its tissue, causing, by complete disorganization thereof, a 
consequent inability to perform or preserve its functions in the 
animal frame. 
We have, in vertebrated animals, three kinds of nervous centres, 
which, according to Dr. Marshall Hall’s celebrated investigations, 
are the cerebral, true spinal, and ganglionic. These, although pre- 
siding over distinct functions, bear, nevertheless, such mutual de- 
pendence upon each other, and relation to the animal frame, that 
