200 
TAIT BUTLER. 
The average, computed from the records of twenty-one emi¬ 
nent writers, is 3.24 primiparas to 1 multipara ; but Madame 
-Lachapelle puts it as high as 7 primiparas to 1 multipara. 
Parturient apoplexy does not occur in primiparas no matter 
at what age they first become pregnant. Not one case is re¬ 
corded as occurring in a primipara and few will be so bold as 
to assert that all cows become pregnant before maturity, and 
that hence maturity and not multiparity is the important fac¬ 
tor to be considered in this connection. For a preponderance 
of evidence certainly indicates that age and primiparity act 
in diametrically opposite directions in the two diseases. 
According to Bailly the disease occurs in pale and 
anaemic, as well as in strong and vigorous women. In cows, 
plethora accompanied by maturity seems to be an essential 
condition, or at least is nearly always present. A large 
development of the lactiferous function also seems a necessary 
condition to the disease in cows, but no mention is made by 
writers on human medicine of such being the case in women. 
“ The influence of the length of labor in the production of 
eclampsia is undisputed.”* Moreover, “ the longer the labor, 
the more difficult the delivery, . . . the more depressing 
is the outlook. ”f Among veterinarians it is equally undis¬ 
puted that parturient apoplexy never follows a long nor dif¬ 
ficult period of labor. In women there appears, in a large 
majority of the cases, to be a direct connection between the 
act of parturition and the disease, but in cows no such direct 
connection can be discovered. In the former an attack of the 
disease at any time during pregnancy is almost invariably 
followed by labor, while in the cow such a result, providing 
it be conceded that the disease occurs before labor, is by no 
means so common. According to Depaul more than 93 per 
cent, of the cases of eclampsia in women occur before or 
during labor, but in the cow it is safe to say that 99 per cent., 
if not all, of those cases of true parturient apoplexy occur at 
from twelve to forty-eight hours after labor. 
* Carpentier, “ Cyclopaedia of Obstetrics and Gynecology.’' Translated by 
Grandin, Vol. II. page 96. 
t Lusk, “ Science and Art of Midwifery,” page 564. 
