PARTURIENT APOPLEXY. 
17 
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Professor Williams says that the particular congestion of the 
brain and its meninges is determined by the state of mental ex¬ 
citement which is always present at this period, an argument 
borne out by the fact that the removal of the offspring from the 
mother is a fruitful cause of the so-called milk fever, but such an 
exciting cause is not essential. Surely, this excitement must be 
greater with the first or second calf, when the disease is seldom 
or never seen, than with the third, fourth and fifth, when it is so 
frequent. 
Sanson says the collapses of parturition is the consequence of 
a sudden disturbance in the physiological condition of the uterus 
after parturition, consisting of the sudden removal of blood which 
congested the organs at that time, as during gestation a large 
portion of the blood is diverted toward the pelvic region where 
the uterus is lodged. After parturition the mucous membranes 
and cotiledons of the organs have lost their functions, and the 
enormous quantity of blood they contained is suddenly thrown 
into the circulation, surcharging the neighboring vessels beyond 
measure and producing collapse. In proof of this, at the time of 
post mortemshe made, Sansom affirms that the mucous membranes 
and cotiledons were found bloodless and of a pale yellow color. 
Weimer is of the opinion that the vascular system is involved 
as manifested by the diminution of temperature and the lacteal 
secretion, as well as the nervous system shown by general de¬ 
pression and loss of sensation, inactivity of the spinal cord in the 
dorsal region, difficulty in digestion, quickened heart’s action, 
and slowing of the respirations. And the causes he believes to 
be bad diet and pressure of the foetus on the stomach and intestines? 
diaphragm vena cava and posterior aorta; a too rapid evacuation 
of the contents of the uterus bring about a fall of the abdominal 
viscera, dilation of the posterior aorta, and a slackening of the 
circulation, etc. 
Another theory, that of Lafosse, is that the malady is due to 
the circumstances that the milky fluid secreted by the cotiledons 
and absorbed by the chlorial villa for the nutrition of the foetus, 
being no longer separated from the blood after parturition, re¬ 
mains in the circulation and accumulates there until the mam- 
