ON DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 
t>24 
with equally beneficial results ; I also usually rub a stimulating 
embrocation well into the back and loins, and apply a sheep-skin 
over all. I think a turpentine clyster also of much service. Many 
patients under this plan of treatment will be on their legs and feed- 
ing, as if nothing had happened, in from twelve to twenty-four 
hours from the administration of the first dose. This is a fact 
worthy of remark, and every country practitioner, I think, will re- 
member that no farther doubt needs be entertained as to their 
safety when once they can stand. 
I scarcely dare venture any remarks as to its nature, and the 
post-mortem examinations have not been attended with uniform 
results ; but that it is a nervous disorder I think most practi- 
tioners will admit. It also seems peculiar to the cow, and like- 
wise to the period of parturition. 
It appears to me to depend on a morbid impression made on 
the nervous fibrillse of the uterus and adjacent parts, which is 
communicated to the spinal cord and brain, the consequence of 
which is a suspension or total destruction of nervous function, 
and this independent of inflammatory action, and in its nature 
quite as inexplicable as tetanus and some other nervous dis- 
orders. If congestion of the brain and spinal marrow exist, may 
not that be regarded as a consequence quite as much as a cause ? 
If this view of the case is reasonable, it will not be difficult to 
understand why stimulants effect a cure when other remedies 
fail. If a morbid impression is the cause, a counter-impression 
is indicated, and necessary for the restoration of the nervous 
function, and this appears to be best effected by the remedies 
which pass under the class of stimulants. Of course, in this 
case, as in all others, some modifications under certain circum- - 
stances will be necessary, and which can alone be determined 
by the practitioner in attendance. 
CASE OF PARTURITION— BREECH PRESENTATION 
—EXTRACTION OF THE CALF. 
By Mr. W. A. Cartwright, Whitchurch. 
On the 9th of March, 1843, I was requested to assist a cow 
about to calve : the water-bag appeared about five in the 
morning, and soon afterwards the hind legs protruded. Some 
force had been used, but without avail. At eight o’clock I saw 
her : the pains had then subsided. 1 examined her, and found 
that all was right for a breech presentation, and that greater force 
was only necessary. In a short time we extracted the foetus. 
