394 
J. SCHMIDT. 
paratively seldom in cows of the beef breeds^ and seldom in cows 
in bad environments. 
Concurrently I have attempted to draw parallels between 
parturient apoplexy and similar symptoms whose causes are less 
enigmatical. 
Among the various recognized hypotheses in the cause of parturient 
paresis which have been announced from time to time, two have at¬ 
tained a certain noteworthiness in the last two decades. I will confine 
myself therefore chiefly to the consideration and criticism of these two. 
The one is that suggested by Franck,* according to which the disease 
called eclampsia by the author should have its basic etiology in a dis¬ 
turbance of the circulation, an elevated blood-pressure in the aorta, hav¬ 
ing its origin in a too rapid contraction of the uterus after birth. From 
this should ensue ; cerebral congestion, cerebral cedema and Anally cere¬ 
bral anaemia with unconsciousness and paralysis. 
d?his view won, at the time, many adherents, and though the 
majority of veterinarians have now abandoned it, it is stiil 
shared by a considerable number. 
The second hypothesis is based upon the belief of the genesis of a 
,toxic substance in the womb. This is the most generally accepted view 
at present, and, although numerous objections have been interposed, jet 
no conclusive evidence of its untenability has been adduced. It was 
already proposed by Stockflethf in 1870, and later in 1884 upon a some¬ 
what different basis by Schmidt-Muhlheim.+ The latter authors agreed 
with Franck’s hypothesis that the affection had its genesis in a too rapid 
uterine contraction whereby the lochia in the uterus was shut in and 
aeration prevented, so that some of the debris undergoing a certain de¬ 
composition produced ptomaines, which through their resorption into 
the blood produced analogous symptoms to those observed in man after 
the ingestion of poison sausage. 
A too rapid contraction of the uterus which forms the basis of the 
said hypotheses of both Franck and Schmidt-Mulheim, occurs with 
relative frequency after easy deliveries, and since parturient paresis like¬ 
wise occurs chiefly after such births, the possibility is stronglj sug 
gested that a certain connection exists between these relations. 
Here, however, is presented the first weak point of both 
* Thierartzliche Geburtshilfe, 1876. 
I Tidsskrift for Veterinarer, I. R. Bd., 18, S. 338. - • 
X Deutsche Zeitschrift fHr Thierniedicin und Vergleichende Pathologie, 1884, Bd. n, 
S. 68. ' 
