REPORTS OF CASES. 
405 
REPORTS OF CASES. 
“ Careful observation makes a skillful practitioner, but his skill dies ivith him. By 
recording his observations, he adds to the knowledge of his profession, and assists by his 
facts in building up the solid edifice of pathological science.'*'' 
1 - A PECULIAR COMPLICATION INDEED. 
S By J. B. Hollenbeck, V. S., Salem, Ohio. 
f 
„ On ]\Iay loth I was called to see a three-year-old heifer of 
i the Holstein-Friesian breed, and mostly white in color. When 
k found in a large pasture she was straining violently, to expel a 
^'.foetus. On examinatioii I found a thigh and croup presenta- 
1 tion ; and from the condition of foetus it must have been dead 
^ for some time. 
* There being no relaxation of the gluteal muscles, it made 
J the vaginal passage so small that there was not room enough 
> for more than one leg of the foetus and my arm ; but with the 
• ’ aid of the parturition shears I was able to take a piece at a 
time, until the shoulders and head were reached, when the 
vaginal passage became so inflamed that further proceedings 
; were considered useless, and I recommended the destruction of 
the animal ; but the owner objected, saying he would wait until 
the n^xt day, when the remainder of the foetus was delivered 
very much decomposed, as I was informed about four weeks 
afterwards, when the owner came for me to go and see the same 
cow, which I supposed was dead. I found her to be a rather 
strange-looking cow, very poor, and with pieces of dead skin 
hanging all over her, from the size of a dollar to two feet square ; 
in fact, all the skin on her sides and rump and legs down to her 
hocks was dead, and I peeled the most of it off, except where 
the skin was black, which seemed to be all right. In a few 
places, where the skin was black but the hair white, only part 
of the hair came out, and the skin remained, but where the skin 
was white, it and the hair came off, and their place is taken 
with scar tissue. There did not seem to be any pus or granula¬ 
tions between the dead skin and scar tissue. At present, over 
four months from the time she was sick, she appears healthy 
otherwise, and is gaining in flesh. 
I would like to know more of the pathology of the disease 
than that the black pigment in the skin, in spots, resisted the 
. destruction of the hair and skin by the disease. 
