EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 195 



REVIEW OF PROFESSOR BANG'S WORK WITH CONTAGIOUS 



ABORTION. 



«V CHARLES E. MARSHALL. 



Special Bulletin 18. — Department of Bacteriology and Farm Hygiene. 



There is evidence that cattle raisers who have been troubled with epizootic or con- 

 tagious abortion will be interested in learning anything reliable which will throw light 

 upon this dreaded disease. Our knowledge previous to two or three years ago, when 

 Professor Bang's work became known, was so limited that an intelligent and assuring 

 answer could not be given to the oft-repeated question which came to the Experiment 

 Station, "What shall we do to eradicate abortion from our herds?" 



Since Prof. Bang's first work, other facts have accumulated to establish the validity 

 of his position. Now we wish to place emphasis upon his recommendations and also 

 to brieHy review the various stages of his experiments. In justice to Professor Bang, 

 it may be said that what lessons may be drawn fiom his experiments, nothing satis- 

 factory can be accomplished unless the utmost care be observed in carrying out his 

 suggestions. Accuracy and detail are the essential factors in fighting contagious abor- 

 tion. Nothing can be gained by an indiflferent effort in wiping out a disease of this 

 nature. 



In this review I have drawn from Prof. Bang's articles and also a review of some of 

 Professor Bang's works by C. W. Sorensen in the "North British Agriculturist. " 



It is allowed that sporadic cases of abortion may assume an enzootic form, but the 

 most common form is that which compels us to conclude that it is of an infectious 

 order. 



After giving u short history of epizootic abortion and a careful consideration of 

 Nocard's investigations, the autlior )iroceeds with his own experiments, which were car- 

 ried out with the assistance of Mr. V. Stribolt. 



That the causal agent might be discovered, it was tiiought necessary to select a 

 pregnant cow from an affected herd, in fact a cow showing signs of impending abortion. 

 Such an animal was purchased on the 19th of December. 1805. She was five years 

 old and had been served with the bull on the 21st of May. Since the 1.5th of December 

 there had been premonitory sj-mptoms of abortion. Tlie cow was slaughtered and the 

 genital organs removed with great care to the laboratory. 



"The external surface of the uterus was normal. The os uteri was firmly closed 

 and the cervical canal was filled with the normal thick mucus. After disinfection of 

 the serous covering of the uterus by burning, I made a section through the uterine wall : 

 when the nuicus membrane was divided, we saw between that and the foetal envelopes 

 an abundant odorless exudate — a dirty yellow, somewhat thin, pultaceous material of a 

 slimy, somewhat lumpy character. At some places where the fluid constituents had 

 run out, the exudate was of a semi-solid nature; its reaction was alkaline. When it 

 was allowed to stand in a glass it separated into two strata, namely: superiorly a 

 reddish-yellow cloudy serum, and at bottom a thick greyish-yellow precipitate." 



"On cutting through the chorion we saw under that a thin, clear, apparently 

 gelatinous substance with very fine membranes rimning through it: closer examination 

 .showed that this was the fine connective tissue lying between the chorion and the 

 allantois, saturated with an oedematous exudate. This was present over the entire 

 extent of the foetal envelope and ff)rmcd a layer one and one-half centimeters in 

 thickness. The allantoic fluid was natural in appearance, thin, yellowish and con- 

 taining only fine fiocculi. Nothing abnormal was observed in connection with the 

 amniotic fluid. The umbilical cord was oedematous. The size of the foetus and the 

 degi-ee of development of the liair on it indicated an age of seven months. It was 



