LIVERPOOL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 133 
that the more especially when we consider the ready influx of 
blood to their cranial cavity in comparison with the special 
arrangement found to exist in that of ruminants. 
The involution of the uterus is as speedily accomplished in 
the mare as in the cow ; consequently, the aortic pressure must 
be equally great, and even greater if we take into account the 
sizes of the two mammary glands, and the quantity of blood 
going respectively to each of them. From this it follows that, if 
acute anaemia be induced in the way he describes, and if it be 
the condition of the brain producing collapse, or parturient 
apoplexy, we have all the necessary conditions for its production 
in the mare, and in greater abundance even than in the cow. 
Indeed, all the conditions he sets forth as existing in the cow 
and favouring its production in them, such as hyperplasia, 
hydraemia, the superabundance of blood thrown back on the 
system by the quick contracting uterus causing aortic pressure, 
the high condition, and even the teleological conditions, are all 
present in the mare, and we do not meet with it in her. 
No one can doubt or disbelieve the large array of physiological 
facts tending to show that a reduced flow of blood to the brain 
will lead to unconsciousness and loss of volition, or that epileptic 
attacks and spasms may arise from brain anaemia, but because 
anaemia of the brain will give rise to these symptoms, it does not 
necessarily follow that parturient apoplexy or collapse is produced 
by anaemia, unless it be admitted that the condition of serous and 
sanguineous extravasation, frequently found on the brain in this 
disease, is an anaemic condition. 
If this be admitted or can be proved, it will alter very mate¬ 
rially our views regarding the apoplectic condition, for it is very 
generally—indeed universally—regarded as the result of sudden 
pressure on the brain substance. Magendie has shown that a 
very slight degree of pressure on the brain was sufficient to de¬ 
prive an animal of consciousness, and that the moment pressure 
was removed the animal woke up again. But the lesions found 
in persons who die from apoplexy vary much. Sometimes the 
evidently congested state of the brain during life leaves no trace 
visible after death. Such cases have been described as —“ Ner¬ 
vous apoplexy” (Sandras). 
But when one finds well-marked appearances of serous and 
sanguineous effusion into the brain cavity or ventricles, it is more 
in accordance with physiological facts to regard it as apoplexy 
from pressure than from arterial anaemia. 
But Mr. Fleming admits, indeed brings forward evidence, that 
anaemia can be brought about in quite a different manner, and 
that according to the dictum of a celebrated physiologist, an 
animal “can bleed to death in its own portal vessels.” For the 
