432 
PERICARDITIS IN A COW, SUPERVENING ON DIF- 
FICULT AND PROTRACTED PARTURITION. 
By John S. Simmons, V. S., Thame. 
On the afternoon of the 4th of June I was called in to see a cow 
belonging to Mr. Crook of Strabbington, Bucks : she had been 
trying to calve the whole of the morning, assisted by the servants. 
Upon examination, I found the foetus lying with its hind quar- 
ters towards the mouth of the uterus, rather on one side, and 
could only get hold of the tail and one fore leg, which was lying 
back under it. I immediately proceeded by fixing an instrument 
against the posterior part of the pelvis, by which means an assistant 
pushed the foetus sufficiently back for me to get up the hind legs, 
and in this way I extracted the calf. The cow appeared so much 
exhausted, that 1 ordered a gallon of gruel to be made for her, with 
a few cloves boiled in it. In an hour after this was administered 
the cow got up and began to feed, and, to all appearance, with the 
exception only of slight straining, was quite comfortable. The 
pains, however, increased towards night, and I was rather surprised 
to find, upon examination, that she had another calf inside her. 
This was extracted without much difficulty. The cow now seemed 
once more quite comfortable, ate and drank, and went on well 
until the 17th, on which day I found the udder swelled to an alarm- 
ing extent. The whole of it was suffering under violent inflamma- 
tory action, and nothing like milk could be drawn from either 
quarter of the near side ; there was also present difficult respira- 
tion, continual hard cough, and grunting, upon being compelled to 
move in the least. Pulse intermittent. Symptoms, in fact, in every 
respect as in inflammation of the lungs. In the first place, I bled 
her to the amount of four quarts, and by this she appeared to be 
much relieved ; but in a short time after the blood ceased to flow 
the symptoms returned. I now bled her to fainting (which, I sup- 
pose, required the taking away of about two quarts more of blood), 
and then 1 blistered her sides. The udder I kept fomented the 
whole of the day, and I gave her a laxative drink. 
18 th. Much better ; gave antim. tart, potassse nit. and digitalis. 
28 th . — Opened the udder, from which flowed, I should suppose, 
three quarts of thick matter. This appeared to relieve her very 
much. The cow now fed a little. Nevertheless, she continued to 
lose flesh surprisingly until the 12th of July, on which day she died. 
Post-mortem Appearances . — The chest contained a very large 
