PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
379 
self; but I labour under a kind of feeling that something valuable 
may not only be said but done by way of prevention. With refe- 
rence to preventing the disease, Mr. Barlow, in his essay, says, 
** There is a pretty certain preventive in milking the cow some 
time before calving; in full blood-letting before or immediately 
after; in purgatives, very limited diet, and in other depletive 
measures; each and all tending to illustrate the necessity of a vas- 
cular state of the system for its development.” So far as my own 
experience is concerned, it is at variance with almost every one of 
the above observations. In the table which I have given respect- 
ing Question 2, the reader will recollect that I stated that puer- 
peral fever supervened in five cows immediately after parturition. 
Now, it is worthy of remark, of these five cases, that every animal 
had been milked many hours previous to calving. The full udder, 
under such circumstances, is a powerful excitant to the uterus : 
this is a well known fact, and the consequence is, that if this natu- 
ral excitant be withdrawn, the action of the process at once be- 
comes diminished. I have known many cases, in addition to those 
already given, where the parturient process was prolonged for 
hours in consequence of the animals being milked, and in whom 
fever supervened almost immediately afterwards; the prolonged 
process, I think, greatly weakens the animal, and, as a natural re- 
sult, the vital energies become less capable of maintaining their 
normal integrity. With reference, again, to bleeding and purging 
as preventives, I have nothing to offer in favour of either mode. 
I do not believe that they are preventives (at least, it has yet to 
be proved), and, to convince me, I should require numerous well 
ascertained facts bearing directly upon it. 
First of all, we require to know what per centage of calving 
cows are liable to be affected with puerperal fever ; then, whether 
that per centage becomes reduced in number in consequence of 
such preventive measures being brought into force : these are 
the only modes whereby the matter can be proved ; and, so far as 
I know, no one yet has ever brought the question to such a test. 
That bleeding and purging are considered as preventives by 
people in general, I know perfectly ; but, like many other popular 
opinions, the thing which is believed, requires first to be proved 
ere it becomes truth. 
I perfectly agree with Mr. Barlow in recommending spare diet. 
I regard it, in fact, as the great preventive. The reader will re- 
collect the full state of the stomachs and digestive organs in those 
cases which died, and which are detailed in this contribution ; 
cases which point out the imperative necessity of spare diet; but 
when I say spare diet, I do not mean poor diet— the food should 
be good, but they should not have that huge bulk of matter which 
