The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-06-02
New Treatment of MILK Fever.

New Treatment of Milk Fever.
A correspondent of Farm and Eome,
London, England, says: Favorable
reports-mostly, however, from CONT
mental sources-continue to come to
hand of the success attending Schmidt's
new treatment of milk fever. The
current number of the Veterinarian
contains a translation from foreign
contemporary which may he OF in
terest to w. r. who makes some in
quiry as to the details of the treat
ment, and others who may be
troubled with this pest of dairyland.
The translation runs as follows: M.
Yonker, who practices in a district
where milk fever Is common, decided
to give Schmidt's treatment trial.
The sick animal is we'll attended to,
and the teats are washed with soap
and water, and then disinfected with a
solution of lysol A tube of caout-
chc-c, six feet or more in length, car
ries 1T one end funnel, at the other
a teat syphon, which is introduced in
the teat When everything is ready,
seven to eight grammes of iodide of
potassium is dissolved in a litre of
water recently boiled, which is allowed
20 cool to 40 degrees or AZ degrees Gen.
sigrade. Each quarter receives a quar-
Ger of this solution. At the time Of in
lection the practitioner should mas
sage the quarter in order to facilitate
the penetration of the injection. and
to allow 1t to penetrate along all the
milk passages to the acini of the gland.
When the pulse was weak, Yonker gave
a hypodermic injection of caffeine. At
the same time he gave a dose of aloes
and saline enemata. But as the results
might be due to something other than
the iodide of potassium the author
resolved to use nothing but the iodide,
and in this manner discovered its real
value. To this end he injected the
solution mentioned above by means OF
a pewter syringe attached to a caout-
chouc tube. The results obtained were
surprising; five cows thus treated
speedily recovered, although three of
them were very seriously i'll indeed.
M. Yonker thinks that these results
cannot be easily passed over. He
thinks that the theory that attributes
milk fever as due to the development
of toxalbumin in the udder is true
one. Lower organisms, still unrecog-
nized and unknown, may gain access
to the udder by the teat lumen, and
set up decomposition Of the colostrum.
Iodide OF potassium acts upon these
organisms as 1t acts upon the actino-
myces in a specific fashion. A certain
quantity of the salt will be absorbed,
and this may neutralize that portion
of the toxin that has already gained
the circulation. This last explanation
may be offered for the rapid disap-
pearance of the grave symptoms es-
tablished through paralysis OF the
pneumo-gastric nerve, due to the ac-
ton of the toxin upon the nucleus OF
origin of the nerve within the medulla
oblongata. The author is of opinion
that prevention may be established by
either exhibiting the drug by the
mouth or injecting in the udder prior
to calving.
"a modification or improvement in
the apparatus for the injection of the
potassium iodide solution into the I'D
der has been introduced by M. Vinck
He employs a caoutchouc tube and fun
mel into which the solution is poured,
and along which it runs, and at the
lower extremity the rubber tube ter
inmates in four narrower tubes, each
having attached to it a teat syphon.
There are thus as many syphons as
quarters, and all the quarters are in
jected simultaneously. Schmidt insists
on the superior benefit resulting from
injecting the solution Of iodide salt
with atmospheric air.
"The idea that the cause of milk
fever is a poison or toxin in the udder,
which is produced in connection with
the colostrum, is steadily gaining
ground and acting on this hypothesis
Mr.. w. Hunter. M.R.C.V.S., of New
castle-on-Tyne, is employing a more
direct agent than iodide of potassium
In the form of chinosol. Fifteen grains
of chinosol to each pint of water is
stated to have been used in the sue
cessful experiments conducted by this
pra ntiti0ner