398 
J. SCHMIDT. 
It follows then that not so much is withdrawn from the blood on ac¬ 
count of the nutrition and growth of the foetus as during lactation in 
the first period after birth. It is also readily understood that the calf, 
after birth, through its increase in weight, and its movements, gradually 
fixes greater nutritive demands upon the mother than the foetus did 
just prior to birth. The activity of the udder is, however, clearly more 
than sufficient to meet this additional demand. There must consequently 
be more nutritive material excreted in the milk, in a different form and 
of different composition, of course, than the calf used in the foetal period, 
and since the activity of the udder is naturally a continuation of the 
uterine function, one is warranted in drawing the conclusion that this 
functional activity of the udder is proof of its vascular activity as well, 
and that therefore a greater blood flow goes to the udder after birth than 
to the womb before. 
The heavy demand made upon the blood by the abruptly increased 
lactation after birth must inevitably result in a much greater blood flow 
to the udder, after, than before birth, and always the greater the more 
important the milk secretion is, hence the greatest in good milk cows. 
Even if it follows, should we adhere to Franck’s conclusion, that the blood 
pressure increases after birth in the aorta and thence to the peripheral 
parts of the body, this pressure must, however, be smallest where the 
blood stream finds an overflow in the udder, that is, in good milk cows, 
which also are the ones, according to Franck, most frequently stricken. 
Even if there can be nothing more interposed against the theory of an 
increased blood pressure in the aorta as a connecting link between a too 
abrupt contraction of the uterus and the cerebral anaemia, these con¬ 
siderations alone should carry sufficient weight to render the Franck 
hypothesis untenable. 
It is a peculiar circumstance which may well contribute to the doubt¬ 
fulness of the correctness of the hypothesis that even those practitioners 
who are committed to the theory that an excessive aortic blood 
pressure exists, yet in handling the affection rely chiefly upon those 
remedies which elevate the arterial blood pressure. Also they are al¬ 
most as united in their exclusion of phlebotomy, which in all cases re¬ 
duces the arterial blood pressure for a short time—according to Albu,^ 
for one-half to four hours. 
It is therefore improbable that vascular disturbances consti¬ 
tute the active cause of parturient apoplexy. If, however, the 
parturient paresis is once established, then it constantly plays 
an important role in the course of the affection and the pressure 
* Berl. Klin. Wochenschrift. 1896, Nr. 43. 
