498 
CASES OF FRACTURES, &C. 
1 have carefully perused every written case which has come 
under my notice in the pages of The VETERINARIAN, and not even 
in your own observations on disease of those tendons have I seen 
any such thing as adhesion mentioned. If such a thing be rare, 
surely I fancy cases of it must be of frequent occurrence, if they 
were recorded. Perhaps you may have some observations to offer 
on the subject*. 
CASE IV . — 'Puerperal ( or Milk ) Fever in a Cow, nine Weeks 
after Parturition. 
On Sunday, August 4th last, I was requested immediately to 
see a cow lying in a field, about half a mile from this town, about 
which I received the following history : — 
Up to the morning, nothing unusual had been observed, but then 
the cow did not give her milk so freely as before. Nothing else 
unusual was noticed. The cow chewed her cud whilst being 
milked, and afterwards went, and fed as usual. In the evening, 
about six o’clock, however, when the man came to milk her again, 
she was lying down, and appearing rather restless. He endea- 
voured to make her rise upon her legs ; but, notwithstanding she 
made two or three efforts, she was unable to get up. The servant 
informed his master, and I was immediately sent for. On my 
arrival at the field, I found the cow lying down; her tongue pro- 
truding from her mouth, and a quantity of frothy saliva dropping 
therefrom; her eye wild; head frequently tossed to and fro ; ex- 
tremities cold ; breathing quick and laborious; and pulse much 
accelerated. I proceeded to abstract blood, which I allowed to flow 
until an evident effect was produced upon the system. By this 
time a messenger had arrived with a draught composed of spt. seth. 
nit. Jij, liq. ammon. acetat. ^vj, which I immediately administered. 
In about half an hour the cow appeared much relieved, but was 
quite unable to rise. I had not before made the trial (and for- 
tunately had given no opinion on the case); but I now discovered 
that the extremities, behind the dorsal vetebrae, were insensible to 
the prick of a pin or penknife, even though inserted an inch deep. 
I now told the owner that I feared the result, and, of course, 
what I thought was the nature of the case. A cart was sent 
for, and the cow taken home. My subsequent treatment consisted 
in the administration of cathartic and diaphoretic agents, with 
powerful counter-irritants along the whole course of the spine. 
All efforts, however, were useless. The paralysis rapidly extended 
* So far from adhesion being “ rare,” it is the most common consequence 
of inflammation in these parts, and becomes in very many cases the cause of 
the alleged “ contraction.” — E d. Vet. 
