298 ON PUERPERAL FEVER IN COWS, &C. 
much of the facts of the case can be got at, it is generally 
found that the mucous membrane of the intestines is first 
affected, producing diarrhoea, though this always extends, as the 
disease proceeds, to the peritoneal coat, and probably to the 
whole substance of the intestines, and the most obstinate cos¬ 
tiveness is the result. Here, having to deal with viscera more 
immediately under our controul, we can calculate with greater 
certainty as to the result, though it is equally necessary to act 
with the same promptitude and energy. 1 have known bleeding 
recommended in this disease, though I confess I never saw but 
one case that appeared to me to indicate it; and because I con¬ 
sider it a peculiar one, as regards the effects of venesection in 
this disease, I will relate it. I was sent for some years since to 
a cow belonging to a baronet in Lincolnshire, whose stock and 
horses I at that time attended. Besides the red water, there was 
a disease of the heart, the pulsations of which were most un¬ 
natural and distinctly audible at a considerable distance from 
the cow-house. Perhaps without sufficient consideration of the 
case, I at once decided that it was necessary to bleed : I did 
so, and to me the result was most alarming and unexpected : 
almost as soon as blood began to flow, the animal fell; the most 
complete prostration of strength ensued, the breathing was most 
distressing and laborious, and I quite expected that death would 
have speedily ended the affair. But, happily for my professional 
reputation, the cow, after requiring the greatest possible care and 
attention, ultimately recovered. The cowman very good na- 
turedly informed the worthy baronet of my mode of treatment, 
and minutely detailed to him the alarming consequences of it; 
but I had an opportunity of explaining to him my reasons for 
departing, in this instance, from my usual practice, and he w^as 
quite satisfied, though it might be hard to say if such would 
have been exactly the case if the cow had died. I have since 
been inclined to believe that, in this instance, the positive loss 
of blood by the ureters had actually been so great as sensibly 
to diminish the volume of that fluid necessary for the healthy 
and regular action of the heart, and that the audible and unna-: 
tural pulsation I have endeavoured to describe was the conse¬ 
quence of this. 
I have before said that the intestines and kidneys are the 
parts principally affected in this disease. A number of medi¬ 
cines that act upon each wall at once present themselves to 
the mind of the veterinary surgeon ; but because having (parti¬ 
cularly during five years of my professional career) had a rather 
extensive practice amongst cattle, and in all that time (when 
a great number of cases of this kind came before me) had the 
