PARTURIENT OR PUERPERAL APOPLEXY 519
are half closed, and are dull and lustreless; the hair is ereci
and dry.
The pulse does not vary much from the normal in the
early stages; it is generally soft and full and more frequent,
and may number 50, 60, or 70 beats per minute. When coma
is well advanced, it becomes small and quick, numbering
100 to 120, and at last is irregular and almost imperceptible.
In marked coma and paralysis the respirations are often
slow and deep—from 5 to 8 per minute—sighing or stertorous,
indicating paralysis of the soft palate. When the respirations
are markedly increased, up to 80 or 90 per minute, the disease
has probably become complicated with pneumonia, due to the
passage of food and other bodies from the pharynx down the
trachea into the bronchial tubes—a not uncommon accident of
the disease. In very acute cases the cow sometimes breathes
through its mouth, and puffs out the cheeks. A moan may
accompany each expiration.
The internal temperature is quite or nearly normal. In
deep coma it has been found as low as 35° C. (95° F.), and even
32° C. (90° F.), and rises again when there is an improvement.
It is possible that, in the cases in which very low temperatures
were noted, the anal sphincter has been relaxed, so that the air
passing into the rectum would make it cooler than normal.
The extremities—feet, horns, and ears—are generally icy cold,
and the surface heat of the trunk is irregularly distributed.
The mucous membrane of the mouth is pale, and saliva
accumulates about or flows continually from it* Food and
water are refused, and, indeed, at an early stage there appears
to be paralysis of the pharynx and oesophagus; and if care is
not taken, the solids or fluids attempted to be administered
may find their way into the air-passages, and, if they do not
quickly produce asphyxia, they will probably give rise to
pneumonia. When fluids are administered, they pass down
the oesophagus with a gurgling sound. The functions of the
rumen and digestive system are more or less suspended, and
the peristaltic movements of the intestines decreased. Hence
tympany, eructations, and constipation, result- Tympimy is
especially marked if the cow lies on her side. The eructations
may <^arry food and fluid from the rumen into the pharynx, and
even into the nostrils, and they may pass thence into