CAUSES OF MILK FEVER IN COWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1670, 20 March 1883, Page 4

CAUSES OF MILK FEVER IN COWS.

Milk fever is tlio common name for wnat is knowfljn technical or .scjc^ifie language as puoKpprid fcvcr,or partutfentapoujoxy. It is oh? Qf,the most, fatal complaints th.it breeding., animals arc, subject to. The ctuiscsvlirerfisposing ,to .this disease are, »iany,.W on 686 8 ! t which can be enumciated the following— viz., bice.l, age, season, ] feeding, and, probably, a foimer attack. Puerperal fever or apoplexy- gt-uo^Uy attacks- tho cow soon after calving -say from four hours to two or thicc days, but rarely after the third day. It is more common in old rows than Very "young ones ami generally at the birth of th« third or fourth calf, nnri fiom which time the liability incieasos until about the seventh or eight calf, after which period we find this disoasp compaiatn ely r.ii c. Cows in high condition and those who arc Ing milkers an' "cnerally the objuc ts of attack Tlie breed of Aldornoys are said to \w especially predisposed to it, and liodoubUhat the influence of breed isso well established jis a predisposing cause that most persons who have any pietciisioni to o\poiienec in cases of tliis kind will readily admit thin filet. The feeding of cows cannot in this country claim the same amount of consideration as it does in England, or in those'eountries where cattle require to be ted -hi their byres owing to want of grass. Here, a cow in most instances feeds.'on grass all the year round, and consequently docs not got the stimulating artificial food which in other countries, without due care in feeding, probably predisposes to this disease ; however, caution should be exercised in this country also, and should the grass he too abundant and rich, cows in high condition and about to calve should a month or so befdie parturition be turned into a paddock rather bare of grnss than _ otherwise. 1 This disease occurs at all times of the year, but it is usually gi anted that largest number of cases happen in summer and during hot weather. It is seldom advisiable to biccd again from a cow which has once been attacked by this diseaso, unless in the case of very valuable animal, and then the greatest precautions should be taken. Evpciicnco has shown that a previous attack is almost invariable followed by another, and cases aie indeed rare that have iccowicd from a second attack. Acuiious circumstance concerinig this disease is its being entirely confined to the bovine lace, no other animal being subject to its attacks, and although instances me mven of cases resembling puerperal apoplexy, both in the mare and ewe, it is (at'coiding to good authoiities) certain that it docs not exist as a distinct and well-defined disease in these animals. The natuie of this affection seems to be apoplectic, a Tent mortem examination showing the vessels of tho brain to be goiged with blood, and in many cases their coats havegiveu way, and a clot of blood is found pressing on the brain. These appearances satisfactorily explain the genei.illy fatal nature of the disease and its intractability to treatment. In another issue the geneial piinciples of treatment will lie given, and the ordinary piccautions to bo taken to pievent an outbreak of this disease.— " S.D." in Wittily.

ROBERT Been axax is becoming one of tlic most pci-sistcnt woikeis iuJiutain. lie scuds forth book nftoi book fioni hi^, study^ho last bern« ji novel w ltli the promising title of " The Now Abehud. ' Tin: Aichduchcss Valeue ot Auatiia, following ber brother's footsteps, has composed several poems in tlie M.igy.u language, and is now wilting a diania. Tin' youtlitul wntci is only 14. Tin: Lihi hi u Juttniftl asserts tlut it is well known in Washington tli.it the author of " Deinociacy" is Mr Claiam-c 3ving. The AlhiiHciiHi, however, hays it ha 1 * misons to dou'it that statement. OtriDA has written a new .story entitled " i'Yeseoes,"' the lust poition of which will appear in lUUjtubM foi Jauuaiy. The same number wiil contain the opening diaplcis of .Justin McCarthy's new .seiial .story. "M.iidot Athene." Ax illustiated " Podigiee of thedewl," by Mr T. JLill, is about to published in London. Koine unpublished poems by l'Yeiligruth are about to be Inought out in (jormaiiy. Among them is a tiaiiblotion of By i on's " Ma/cppc." A Nkw fcatiuc apiH.u-iu tlio J/ht*ttitled London Nut* with the beginning ot the gear. The nunibci for .lan. 0 couiaincd the hist instalment of .1 new tale, entitled "Yolandu," by Mi William JJLwk. A Months journal, en titled the been VnittilUlu /s' Jiiuninl, habbeui established foi the pin pose of forming a medium of coiiiuuication between chilis and their employers, and ol ailoiding useful iutorination to cleiks of eveiy debouptiou. Tkk number of LinxjuMit s Muijnx'nio foi 1 January lSSii, contains oin aitiele by Mr "W. L. lMtudouh, the captain of the Australian Cucket Eleven, giving his o|iinioiis on the aib of l><itting, and a sketch of the ii.se of Austialian cricket. Mf.ssks Samcson Low will be the publishers of Mr Archibald B (Jolfjul)onii'i. no .ativc of his journoy of cxploiation through the Soutli China boi del lands from Canton to Mandalay. The title chosen by the author is " Across? Clirysc'," and the book will appear as an e,u ly <is possible Mrlkvim! is having reprinted in the form of a pamphlet, a\ ith a bnef jjeifaee by himself, the essay of Talma on the Art of Acting, which was pnblishcd in an early number of the Thoufri' by the wish of Air living, who thought that it would piobably be of service to brother aetoi s. Lady Conotymt- Howard, who has a high literal y leputation, has just finished a novel entitled "Molly Dailing," If this new work equals the success of licv previous one, >l Sweetheart and Wife." published eaily in the .spring, her ladyship will have no cause to complain of the public patronage. Fiction is becoming a leading feature of the great weekly countiy newspapers. One author Mr J. H.itton, has four separate novels now appealing in four separate country journals. The payment for an original tale, written by a popular novelist and published in a newspaper, averages fi oin £500 to £J2OO, the author retaining the light to bring it out subsequently in book-form. Tub Bkitisii " Bloodhounds' ' in Egypt. — During* tho recent wax gieat wonder was exrited in .England by a fatatorncnt which eoinohow got in circulation that our troops were using bloodhounds to suppleincut their operations. Tho real facts soon ciimc out, and they mo told in full in the Bombay GnzclU'.— " The members of the Bombay Hunt have much to answer for. They have been unrou'-eiously tho caiusp of .serious allegations being brought agaiufct their gallant countrymen in Egypt. At a critical moment of the struggle, when men's minds wore highly strung and their imaginations excited to a'foverUh pitch, they insisted' oti having a Wkof hounds sent through the Canal on votde to Bombay. This peek bids fair tp Ijecomo historic. Shortly af tec jfc passed •l?ort Said, a«ou of If. do Lesseps informed bin indignant f ripjida in Paris that a p.ick of bloodhounds had Iwwi sent with the British troops to hunt down tho Egyptian f ugitivps. It was only a Frenchman "who could have mistaken a fox-hound for a bloodhound. In their version of tho affair tho Egyptians were more circumspect. In one of the numbers of Al JP ahvja ah Ma*rit/eJt, tho Egyptian Gazette, published by Arabi's Government, Abdelal reported frum Dainietta to the sub-Minister of War, thfit 'a ship has boon passing through the, Canal to IsrauiJia, filled with cargo of hunting dog,s tq net as scouts for the, English Roldiern wheg fhoy go out to jfight. We conclude,' coniisves this vera-j <iiou« eummaudor, ' from their mar having irecoureojto that |hp climax of thr-jr ■Ili-Bu.'cees8 i and 1 0/f their SbfoAfc has come.;, 1 Surely history, -whicfr keeps a page for the geese ot tho Gapitol an 4 the hound of Robert "Bruce, will nptgrude a p^ragrapH