296 ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN COWS, &C. 
of torpor, and want of tone in the organs to be acted upon. To 
meet this exigency, it becomes necessary to add some strong stimu¬ 
lants and tonics. For this purpose, flour of mustard, spirits sal. 
ammon. from half oz. to one oz., bark, gentian, ginger, caraways, 
carbonate of soda, and carbonate of ammonia, are all excellent. 
Then, for the purpose of acting upon the kidneys, and cleansing 
and reducing the inflammation of the uterus, sp. aether nit., ol. 
tereb., sol. chlor. calcis, pulv. nitri (the sulphur acts upon both 
intestines and kidneys): thus you have the three classes of medi¬ 
cines necessary for your purpose in this state of the disease. 
The intelligent veterinary surgeon will not fail to perceive the 
necessity of strict attention to the comfort of the animal, of 
placing the litter in a manner to render her recumbent posture 
as easy as possible till able to rise, often turning her over, &c.; 
of inducing warmth to the skin and extremities; of raking and 
clystering when necessary ; of administering sufficient quantities 
of gruel, &c.; of frequently drawing the teats to ease the udder, 
encourage the flow of milk, and prevent disease of that viscus; 
and also of externally stimulating the abdomen, in cases of great 
emergency, with a strong embrocation. 
In this communication I purposely avoid naming the exact 
quantities of the different medicines, as I write only for the in¬ 
formation of veterinary surgeons, who are qualified by education 
to apportion the different drugs to the several exigencies of the 
case; indeed, I am convinced it is impossible to do so with any 
degree of precision, my own experience proving, that almost every 
fresh case requires the exhibition of different quantities of the 
several classes of medicines before named. 
Before quitting this part of my subject, I would again urge (as 
I did in my last) the necessity of the practitioner pushing his 
purgative treatment to an extent equal to evacuating the whole 
of the stomachs, and intestines also: without a thorough convic¬ 
tion that this had been accomplished, I would not desist; for 
be it remembered, that superpurgation is not to be dreaded in 
the cow as in the horse, the facility with which we can admi¬ 
nister medicines of any quality, and in any quantity, to cattle, 
renders it not difficult to stop any purgation produced by our 
own treatment. 
I have had one very alarming case of puerperal fever since I 
wrote last. The poor man to whom the cow belonged told me, 
in a tone of the deepest distress, that he had lost one last year 
with the same disease; and that if this one died also, it would 
completely ruin him. The cow had been ill twenty-four hours 
when I was called in. I immediately adopted the course I have 
recommended above; slight purgation took place in about ten 
