PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 377 
sented by Case 6. Case 6 is a form or type of puerperal disease 
of very common occurrence, and which I regard as arising mainly 
from debility of the psose muscles, and not, as the generality of 
veterinarians believe, from disease of the spinal cord. The facts in 
favour of this opinion are so evident and clear, that any one com- 
petent to judge, or practically acquainted with the subject, may 
readily satisfy himself of the truth of what I state. 
Of the various questions which present themselves to breeders 
and owners of cattle respecting this disease, the following are, per- 
haps, a few of the most important : — First, At what period of their 
life are cows the most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever] 
Secondly, At what period after the animal has calved does the dis- 
ease generally supervene] Thirdly, What is the average rate of 
mortality amongst cows attacked with this disease ] Fourthly, What 
is the best method to pursue with cattle in order, . if possible, to 
prevent the disease ] Fifthly, Which is the best mode of treatment 
to pursue with cattle when so attacked ] To these several ques- 
tions I shall endeavour to reply as fully as my own knowledge of 
the matter will allow me : they are questions which ought to 
have been answered years ago ; but no one appears to have thought 
it necessary. They are questions of great importance to the agri- 
culturist; if they were fully answered he would be able to form a 
pretty accurate estimate as to the amount of risk he was likely at all 
times to incur with respect to puerperal diseases of a febrile nature. 
For instance, suppose it was fully ascertained from data furnished by 
the correct observations of a number of practitioners at what period 
of the cow’s life the animal is the most liable to be attacked with 
puerperal fever, the agriculturist and cow-keeper would be able, in 
a considerable degree, to guard against it, either by feeding the 
animal, or taking such other steps as a like experience proved to 
be the best. It is of no earthly use practitioners writing f ‘ grand- 
iloquent” papers upon diseases like puerperal fever ; or in their 
telling the world, that puerperal fever is a disease of the nervous 
system ; or that “ the name which is given to it is very improper, 
and not suggestive or “that bleeding and the administration of 
a powerful purgative are proper to commence with together with 
hosts of stereotyped statements of a like nature ; statements which 
are unceasingly repeated, and which are without one jot of sound 
experience to substantiate them. 
Question First. — At what period of their life are cows the 
most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever? I have in my 
possession notes and memoranda of twenty-nine cases of this dis- 
ease, which notes and memoranda I have collected from cases I 
have treated from the month of July 1842, to the month of July 
1849, a period of exactly seven years, and with reference to the 
VOL. XXIII. 3 E 
