574 
DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 
Some persons have sought an explanation of this locali¬ 
sation of parturient apoplexy simply in the character of the 
soil, the rich quality of the food, and the generous feeding of 
the animals. It is true that on sandy and poor soils the 
malady is rare; but its prevalence in other districts does not 
exclusively depend on an opposite condition of the soil, nor 
on the good management or richness of the grazing land, nor 
on the high feeding of the cows; nor, I may add, is it due to 
the large number of animals which are kept within a limited 
area. In many dairy districts, where these conditions exist, 
but where well-bred and good milking cows are sparsely dis¬ 
tributed, very few cases of parturient apoplexy are seen. I 
am practically familiar with many such districts, as with 
others where the malady is exceedingly rife. 
In speaking of the causes which favour predisposition, the 
influence of the weather must not be lost sight of. In the 
height of summer, although fewer cows may calve within a 
given area, more cases will occur than in the spring, when the 
larger number of calves are born. It is also noteworthy that 
in some years the disease is comparatively rare, while in 
others it is very prevalent. 
In considering the predisposing causes of the attack, 
attention may also be directed to the conformation of bovine 
animals, their liability to great excitation at the time of par¬ 
turition, and their idiosyncrasy or natural tendency to brain 
disturbance, especially when suffering from diseases which im¬ 
plicate the functions of the stomachs, and none the less also 
of the uterus and other organs. Compared with simple- 
stomached herbivora, and with many other ruminants, bovine 
animals are short-necked, and are provided with a more ca¬ 
pacious venous system for the return of the blood from the 
brain. This latter anatomical peculiarity probably depends 
on the greater length of time which they naturally occupy in 
grazing, and the necessary pendent position of the head 
during the whole of such time. 
The shortness of the neck may, however, exert an influence 
also in the production of that excited condition of the brain 
which is often observed both in cows and heifers immediately 
after parturition in the defence of their young. Their ordi¬ 
nary docile habit is not unfrequently changed to such an 
extent as to amount to parturient delirium, rendering it 
dangerous to approach them, and not unfrequently leading 
to their killing their offspring. 
Conformation and advanced age in cows, as in the human 
subject, are powerful agents in the production of apoplectic 
attacks. Susceptibility is also increased by a previous attack. 
