260 
PUERPERAL FEVER, OR PARALYSIS 
to the modihcation of the disease and the circumstances under 
which it occurs. I give the following, then, as a general outline 
of my treatment of this disease, and it has been as successful in 
my hands as 1 could reasonably expect in such an unmanage- 
able malady. How it will answer in the hands of another, should 
it be tried, I know not. 
At the commencement of the disease I almost invariably bleed, 
and 1 deplete as far as I dare : but it is too seldom that I have 
the operation to perform this, for the animal is usually down, and 
unable to rise, before l am invited to attend. 
The first compound I prescribe, in the way of internal medi- 
dicine, is generally as follows: — R Magnes. sulph. §xij, pulv. 
croton, sem. 9ij, pulv. al. Barb. pulv. zingib. alb. ^iss. I 
have these articles made into a drench with gruel, and, at the 
time of giving, I add sp. aeth. nit. Jij. After this I dispense 
the following mixture, three table spoonsful of which I order to 
be given in a pint of decoction of linseed every two hours : — 
R Tinct. canthar. (L. P.) §vj, tinct. croton. Jj, sp. aeth. nit. §ij. 
I have also a soap or turpentine clyster thrown up every four or 
five hours, and the lumbar portion, and occasionally the whole 
extent of the spine, well blistered. 
When there is apparent affection of the brain, I insert a seton 
behind each ear. 
If, after the expiration of fourteen or sixteen hours, there is 
no improvement, 1 usually alter, in some measure, my course of 
treatment, fancying that a change of medicine is beneficial. I 
order to be given in a quart of gruel, sodee chlorid. §xij, aloe 
Barb. 3vj. 1 have this followed up, every two hours, by a powder 
like the following :--R Pulv. cascaril. 3ij, pulv. zingib. 3 i i j , 
pulv. capsici 3i, ammon. sesquicarbon. 3ij, and continue this 
mode of treatment, with occasional alterations, until the case 
terminates. 
As soon as the animal begins to recover, I do not give the 
stimulants more frequently than two or three times a day. I do 
not like the system, particularly in this case, of pouring in large 
and repeated doses of cathartic medicines. A great quantity of 
purgative medicine may be given without producing the least bene- 
ficial effect, unless the stomach can be aroused to action by the 
agency of stimulants. I am convinced that they actually defeat the 
accomplishment of the end they are designed to effect. I have 
not unfrequently met with peritonitis attacking the cow shortly 
after parturition. 
This also is almost uniformly called puerperal fever, although 
a different disease, and requiring an opposite mode of treatment 
to the foregoing one. it, in my opinion, more resembles puer- 
