666 
D. MCINTOSH. 
the head, etc., and under this method of treatment very few 
of my patients recovered. 
This state of affairs troubled me very much, and I deter¬ 
mined to investigate and find out if we were right as to the 
nature of this very fatal disease. I read all 1 could find on 
the subject. The authors differed so much as to the nature 
and cause of the disease, that I found very little benefit in this 
line. My next effort was to make post-mortem examinations 
of all the cases that died from this disease. The first post¬ 
mortem I made surprised me very much, as I found none of 
the characteristics of congestion or inflammation present. At 
the next case which presented itself for post-mortem I had 
the assistance of a medical man well versed in pathology. We 
made a very careful examination and found no appearance of 
congestion or inflammation. I made several more post-mortems 
of cows which died from this disease, with the same result. 
This led me to think we must be mistaken as to the true 
nature of this disease, and if so, our treatment must be wrong. 
It is a well-established fact that coma or delirium can oc¬ 
cur without congestion or inflammation of the brain. An over¬ 
distended stomach or deranged state of the nervous system 
will cause it. Another fact to be considered is, that the 
symptoms of inflammation or congestion of the brain are very 
different from those of parturient apoplexy, especially in the 
early stages of the disease. These facts led me to believe that 
the disease must be of a nervous character and not conges¬ 
tive. Some writers of note think it is caused from derange¬ 
ment of the sympathetic nerve, and through its action on the 
blood vessels, caused congestion of the brain. This last part 
is, I think, where the mistake has been made. The sympa¬ 
thetic nerve controls all hollow viscera, and has a special ac¬ 
tion on the uterus, and through its connection with the lum¬ 
bar nerves, deranges the muscles of the loins and posterior 
extremities first, gradually proceeding forward until the 
brain becomes affected, producing coma or delirium. 
Taking this into consideration, I changed the treatment 
to strong stimulants, and, to my satisfaction, the patient re 
covered. I have adopted this form of treatment ever since, 
