318 
A CASE OF PARTIAL PARALYSIS OF THE POSTE¬ 
RIOR EXTREMITIES OF A COW FROM PRESSURE 
ON THE SPINAL COLUMN. 
By Mr. C. Dickens, V.S., Kimholton. 
Jan. 7, 1840.—I WAS requested to visit a fine short-horned cow, 
the property of a cottager seven miles from this town, that had, 
after the usual period of gestation, calved about six weeks before, 
but had ever since gone on very badly, and was daily wasting 
away. I found her with little appetite—bowels much consti¬ 
pated—pulse languid—skin tight and unhealthy; and she gave 
but little milk. i 
She had been from the time of parturition until now under the 
care of a person who calls himself a skilful cowleech, who had 
given her several drinks, and ordered a large quantity of currant 
gruel daily, with a view, as he stated, of nourishing and healing 
her inside; but, all proving of no avail, I was applied to. 
In addition to the symptoms already enumerated, she straddled 
much with her hind legs, and, when roused, the membrana nicti- 
tans of both eyes was suddenly thrown over them to as great an 
extent as is sometimes seen in tetanus in the horse. On turning 
her out, this latter symptom, with the straddling gait, became far 
more perceptible ; the latter so much so that she could scarcely 
keep her equilibrium. Such symptoms told me that mischief ex¬ 
isted somewhere in the spinal column; and, on pressure being ap¬ 
plied o\*er the seventh dorsal vertebra, she was observed to flinch 
very much, and an enlargement was readily perceptible. In short, 
ossific deposit was being thrown out, the result of external injury, 
and was pressing upon the spinal column, and consequently inter¬ 
fering with the functions of some portion of it—what portion I will 
not venture to say, as I believe wiser heads than mine are yet at 
issue upon that point. The owner recollected her slipping with 
her hind legs beneath her in getting up a few days before calving. 
Treatment .—I cut the hair as close as possible, and actively 
blistered the injured portion of the spine. I divided magnes. sulph. 
Ib.ij, pulv. digital. 5ij, et antim. tart. 3ij, into four powders, and 
administered one in a quart of tepid water every alternate day. 
Fancying that she had been living upon slops long enough, I order¬ 
ed her gruel to be discontinued, and that she should be plentifully 
supplied with water, and have hay or bran and oats to eat; for, 
friendly as I am to the exhibition of gruel, &c. to my patients in 
affections of the mucous membranes, I am equally persuaded that 
we may in ruminants carry the nursing system too far, until they 
become so habituated to it, that they care not for that natural food 
