A NEW TREATMENT OF PARTURIENT PARESIS OF COWS. 
083 
when I read last winter a short notice in the Berliner Thier- 
arztliche Wochenschrift announcing the discovery of a new treat¬ 
ment of milk fever by veterinarian Schmidt, Kolding. Ac¬ 
cording to him the cause of the disease must be located in the 
udder, which, by the suddenly increased lactation after birth, 
loosens great masses of old glandular cells (colostrum) in a sort 
of cleaning process. These undergo a decomposition and form 
toxins which are absorbed into the blood circulation, resulting 
in auto-intoxication. He, therefore, directed this therapy against 
the udder and particularly against an abnormally high milk 
secretion, both qualitative and quantitative. It being known 
that iodide of potassium has the effect of decreasing the milk 
secretion, he experimented with a solution of this drug by in¬ 
fusing it directly into the milk-glands. Out of fifty cases so 
treated forty-six recovered. 
Schmidt’s treatment is in detail as follows: After attention 
to the first symptomatic treatment the udder is milked out, 
thoroughly cleansed with soap and water and the udder and teats 
disinfected with a lysol solution. Iodide of potassium, 7—10 
grammes, are then dissolved in one litre of freshly boiled water, 
the solution filtered and cooled to 40° ^^d slowly infused into 
the four teats in equal parts. The infusion is accompanied by 
massage of the udder. The apparatus for infusion consists of a 
glass funnel, a rubber tube of meter of length and a milk¬ 
ing tube. He recommends 5 grammes of caffein with 10 
grammes of distilled water subcutaneously if the pulse is weak, 
and if deglutition is not impaired an aloe powder is given per os. 
This treatment is certainly a wide departure from our cus¬ 
tomary methods. It is interesting because it is new, simple and 
direct, and if the hypothesis of the caUvSe of the disease is cor¬ 
rect it must be scientific. I confess that I was sceptical at first, 
but was resolved to try and criticise afterwards. Thus I can 
report the following cases : 
Case I {Failure).— 0 \\ May 23, 5 r. m., I received a hurry- 
call to come to a cow near Whitestone which was bloated. 
When I arrived I found the animal, a Jersey, lying in a pas- 
