572 
DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 
the disease as noninflammatory , and as being dependent on 
functional derangement of the brain and nervous system. 
The Name. —I abandon all other names to give preference 
to parturient apoplexy , notwithstanding that some of them 
may convey to the mind the existence of well-marked sym¬ 
ptoms of the disease, such as Dropping after calving . The term 
Milk fever I also hold to be inappropriate, but by no means 
so much so as Puerperal fever , which strictly means “ Child¬ 
bed fever/* and consequently ought never to have been used 
in connection with parturition of the cow. Like dropping 
after calving, Adynamic fever *—loss of power associated with 
fever—points to the inability of the animal to rise, but 
beyond this we learn nothing by the addition of the term 
either of the symptoms or nature of the malady. 
It was not until 1836 that an effectual effort was made to 
get rid even of the name of Puerperal fever, then so generally 
applied, and also of the disease being of an inflammatory 
nature. In that year an animated discussion took place in the 
Veterinary Medical Association, when the late Mr. Youatt 
stated that his opinion of the nature of the disease had un¬ 
dergone a change, and that he took strong objections to the 
name of Puerperal fever. Many of the speakers nevertheless 
defended both the name and the inflammatory theory, while 
others considered the digestive organs as being chiefly impli¬ 
cated. Some spoke of the secretion of milk being arrested, 
but only one or two drew attention to the evident derange¬ 
ment of the nervous system. The most definite opinion, 
however, of the nervous system being chiefly involved, was 
at that time expressed by the late Mr. Friend, of Walsall, 
who, in a communication to the Veterinarian , wrote as 
follows: “ I consider the disease to be one originating in the 
organic motor nerves/’ The dim light which was thus shed 
on the pathology of the malady was, however, only discerned 
by a few practitioners, and for three or four years longer the 
pages of the Veterinarian continued to be occupied with con¬ 
flicting opinions, both on the propriety of the name and the 
pathology of the malady. Progress, however, was made; 
and in 1840 the writer of the present paper went beyond 
many members of the profession who even regarded the 
nervous system as principally involved, and expressly stated 
that such derangement depended entirely on an apoplectic 
condition of the brain and spinal cord. 
Experience has shown the correctness of this view of the 
* In another part of this Essay I shall speak of Adynamic fever, in con¬ 
nection with an animal’s incapability to rise when pregnant. 
