ON DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 
255 
straps well stuffed and passed through loop-holes in the iron ; 
any vacancies being filled with tow, in order to hinder the fretting 
of the plate. The cow was now allowed to make what use of it 
she thought proper ; and, to our great satisfaction, we found that 
she could stand tolerably well upon it, and that, if all went right, 
it would answer our purpose. 1 now gave her a gentle dose of 
physic, and ordered frequent fomentations of warm water, See., 
for the first few days, by means of which the swelling was kept 
quite low. There was not one unfavourable symptom, but the 
wound suppurated favourably, granulation took place rapidly, 
and in one month from the time of the wound being inflicted it 
was healed. After two weeks more she was able to use it with a 
facility that could scarcely have been thought possible, and, al- 
together contrary to the expectation of those who saw her at the 
time of the accident, leaving only a little thickening of the in- 
teguments to mark the situation of the wound. 
The next case I shall offer is that of Puerperal Fever, or 
Dropping after Calving ; a term in nowise proper in my opinion, 
but, being generally adopted, I have used it. 
March 21, 1843, I was requested to attend a cow that had 
calved on the preceding evening while travelling along the road 
towards the residence of the owner. He told me that he feared 
it would be a case of milk-fever — a common name for that dis- 
ease in my part of the country — as she appeared very uneasy, 
continually shifting her posture, stamping with her feet, turning 
her head towards her sides, &c., likewise her milk having sud- 
denly stopped. She gave her usual quantity in the morning ; 
but at noon, when the disease was suspected, none could be ob- 
tained. 
When I arrived I found the cow down, pressing steadily on her 
abdomen, her head turned towards her right side, and to which 
situation she again immediately placed it after it had been re- 
moved. There did not appear to be that degree of fever generally 
described, but the eyes were sunk in their orbit and had a glassy 
appearance, with a total insensibility to light, or even the touch 
of the finger; in fine, she was in a complete comatose state, with 
a pulse scarcely perceptible. My first proceeding was to bleed 
(of the propriety of which, however, I have some doubt) ; after 
that I administered a small quantity of warm water from a 
bottle, for I had some doubt whether she could swallow : she, 
however, swallowed it, but with some difficulty. I then prepared 
a strong purging drench, composed of mag. sulph. et ol. croton., 
mixed up in two quarts of thin gruel, and added to the mixture a 
portion of ol. lini., which I administered with some difficulty, as 
the powers of deglutition were now much impaired. 
