29o 
ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN COWS, &C. 
the digestive organs are most affected. I need not repeat the 
symptoms here ; but to the observant veterinary Surgeon they will 
be as distinct and intelligible as the finger pointing to the dial- 
plate. The pulse, of course, must be first attended to, and vene¬ 
section resorted to, and to such an extent as the exigency of the case 
seems to require. We must next consider that we have a very 
complicated apparatus to act upon ; that one of the most import¬ 
ant functions in the economy of the animal in question (rumina¬ 
tion) is totally suspended ; that we have, by the powder of medi¬ 
cine, to force the contents of the first and second stomachs by a 
passage which, speaking relatively to a great portion of them. 
Nature never intended them to travel; that, so far from expect¬ 
ing assistance from the native energy of these organs in enforcing 
this extraordinary route of the food, we must recollect that they 
are so enervated as not to be able to perform even their most 
common duties ; and, in addition to this, we must consider that 
we have a mass greater in quantity than usual, not one-half mas¬ 
ticated, and altogether in an unnatural state to pass into the 
other stomachs and intestines; and it will strike us at once, 
that the most prompt and active measures can alone ensure our 
success; and it is absolutely necessary to bear all this in mind 
in proposing the curative treatment of the animal. 
As purgatives, then, which are first indicated, Epsom salts in 
large quantities, croton seed, and sulphur, are most to be de¬ 
pended upon. The salts act immediately upon the abomasum 
and intestines, and are excellent pioneers for the croton, whose 
action is more upon the other stomachs, and consequently very 
valuable. I dare not depend alone upon either : on the salts, be¬ 
cause they are too apt to pass the first three stomachs too quick¬ 
ly ; or on the croton, because it is much slower in it operation, 
and cannot be so immediately extended in its effects. In con¬ 
junction they will perform wonders. Here I would just remark, 
that it is indispensably necessary to give cattle medicines (parti¬ 
cularly for purgative purposes) in large quantities of liquid, they 
having, under all circumstances, to come in contact with a con¬ 
siderable mass of food ; and also, that the more the medicine is 
diffused, the greater surface is, at one and the same time, acted 
upon, and the more stimulus given to the parts to propel forward 
their contents; and further, that the manyplus can hardly be 
affected by any medicine not extensively diffused. As auxilia¬ 
ries in this class, I would just mention treacle, cream of tar¬ 
tar, and muriate of soda; the last is an excellent medicine, 
but rather objectionable where milk is an object, it having a 
tendency to diminish the secretion of that fluid. 
It is next to be borne in mind, that there is an unnatural state 
