362 
ON RED WATER. 
sulphate of magnesia and olive oil according to the age and 
strength of the cow, with alterative doses of antimony and nitre, 
and emollient drinks. Up to the last season I used to draw 
blood, but then the debility was so great that I was afraid to 
bleed. 
The disease seems to be most prevalent on the banks of the 
Clyde. I know of one farmer that keeps sixteen cows, and 
had five cases of it; another that keeps twelve had five cases ; 
and a third that keeps ten has had three seized. 
There are many recipes among the farmers for the cure of the 
disease, such as barks and treacle, strong ale with salt, and 
Glauber salts. Some give frequent doses of diapente with anise 
seeds ; one farmer gives two pounds of salt, one ounce of turpen¬ 
tine, one ounce of nitre, a small quantity of salt of tartar and dia¬ 
pente ; and all give great quantities of water, perhaps two or three 
watering pailsful. I allow them as much water as they will 
drink, and, perhaps, drench them with a few extra bottles. 
When the disease is coming on, the cow seems rather dull; 
then she is observed to pass urine of a high colour ; it soon ap¬ 
proaches to a perfect red, and sometimes it becomes black. The 
pulse is 80, 90, or 100, and upwards, having a particularly full 
beat. The back is alwavs a little raised, and there is an incli- 
nation to strain considerably in the evacuation of the faeces : she 
voids her urine frequently; but, in a few cases, the urine and 
faeces are retained altogether. The eves are sunk; the abdo- 
men tender; and at times the cow is afraid to put the parts into 
action : one of the fatal cases that I had was of that description. 
In another case of the same kind that I was consulted about, 
where the urine and faeces had ceased to come awav, 1 gave a 
purgative, with Si of nitre, and the cow got round. The disease 
sometimes commences with diarrhoea, when, if a purgative is 
given, and a little laxative medicine for a few days afterwards, 
she will soon get well; but if she is then neglected, the costive¬ 
ness becomes extreme; and when the patient dies, the many- 
plus is found dry, and as hard as a stone. 
I have had the opportunity of seeing one only after death. 
The uterus had spots of inflammation; the gall-bladder full of a 
fluid similar to the urine which the cow was passing; the ma- 
nyplus was rather hard and dry; the kidnies had a relaxed 
bleached-like appearance. I could observe nothing more wrong. 
How is it to be explained that this disease should come on ex- 
exactly two weeks after calving ? May it not proceed from some 
unnatural alteration or derangement of the uterus? In the cows 
that are seized the second cleaning does not drop away. May it 
not be that the secretions of the uterus, instead of following the 
