143 



('(iHses. — Infectious abortion^ as the name implies, 

 is caused by ;iii infectious agency, or contagion. Au- 

 thors do not agree as to the nature of the germ or as to 

 how the germ brings about the act of abortion. Ameri- 

 can and European investigators do not agree and Euro- 

 pean investigators do not agree among themselves as to 

 the identity of the microbe. Some claiming a micro- 

 coccus and others a bacterium as the effective agent. 

 American investigators have found true bacilli belonging 

 to the coli group in the membranes and womb of aborting 

 animals. Aside from this there are other reasons for sep- 

 arating the disease in America and that in Europe into 

 two ditf(Tent types. The disease in Europe is more viru- 

 lent; a longer time is required to establish immunity; 

 and there seems to be a difference in the manner in which 

 abortion is brought about, viz. : in some cases the germ 

 invades the f(etus, inhabiting the alimentary canal, in 

 one instance, and the meninges of the brain and spinal 

 cord in another; again the infection is insinuated be- 

 tween the cotyledons on the maternal and foetal mem- 

 branes, and modiiies the fcetal food supply, causing in 

 either case the death of the foetus, which, for that reason, 

 is subse(piently expellcxl. In America no writer has ever 

 reported the presence of the germ in the foetus, and the 

 number of living foetuses l)orn indicate that death from 

 nioditied food supply is not a prerequisite. 



In view of these facts the writer will confine the dis- 

 cussions to what he mav term the American form of In- 

 fectioiis A hortion . 



It is singularly significant that all American investi- 

 gators have found closely related, if not identical bacilli 

 associated with the disease. 



Chester, of the Pelaware Experiment Station, isolated 

 from the placenta of an aborted calf, a bacillus closely 

 resembling the bacillus coli; which produced slight 

 catarrli of mucous membranes when injected into the 

 vagina of a cow. Law and Moore, of New York, found 



