NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 455 
been badly harvested; growing corn, oats, etc., if the animal is unused 
to them; a too dry food or a too stimulating food (wheat bran, pease, 
maize, and cotton seed) fed too lavishly may, any one of them, induce 
abortion. The dry and stimulating foods last named bring on constipa- 
tion with straining and also elevated temperature of the body, which, in 
itself, endangers the life of the fetus. 
Putrid, stagnant water is hurtful both to digestion and the fetus and 
abortions in cows have been repeatedly traced to this source and have 
ceased when pure water was supplied. Ergoted grasses have long been 
known as a cause of widespread abortion in cows. The ergot is familiar 
as the dark purple or black, hard, spur-like growths which protrude from 
the seeds of the grasses at the period of their ripening. (PI. V.) It is 
especially common in damp localities and cloudy seasons on meadows 
shaded by trees and protected against the free sweep of the winds. The 
same is to a large extent true of smut. Hence, wet years have been often 
remarkable for the great prevalence of abortions. Abortions have greatly 
increased in New Zealand among cows since the introduction of rye grass, 
which is specially subject to ergot. As abortion is more prevalent in old 
dairying districts, the ergot may not be the sole cause in this instance. 
The smut of maize, wheat, barley, and oats is fostered by similar con- 
ditions and is often equally injurious. It should be added that the ergots 
and smuts of certain years are far more injurious than those of others. 
This may be attributed to the fact that they have grown under different 
conditions, and therefore have developed somewhat different properties, 
a habit of fungi which has been often observed; or that in certain sea- 
sons the cows have been more powerfully predisposed by other operative 
causes of abortion. 
Both ergot and smut vary in potency according to the stage of growth. 
Doctor Kluge found that the ergot gathered before the grain had fully 
ripened was much more powerful than that from the fully ripened grain. 
McGugen found the ergot of wheat more potent than that of rye. It 
should be added that both ergot and smut are robbed somewhat of their 
deleterious properties if fed with an abundance of water, so that they 
may prove harmless if fed with roots, ensilage, etc., whereas they will 
prove hurtful when fed in the same amount with dry hay. They are 
also more liable to injure if fed for a long time in succession in winter, 
though it may be in smaller quantity. 
Rust is also charged with causing abortions. That other cryptogams 
found in musty fodder are productive of abortion has been well estab- 
lished. In Germany and France the wet years of 1851, 1852 and 1853 
were notorious for the prevalence of abortions. Fodders harvested in 
such seasons are always more or less musty, and musty hay and grain 
have been long recognized as a prolific cause of digesive, urinary, and 
cerebral disorders. Impactions and bloating of the stomachs, excessive 
secretion of urine (diuresis), and red-water are common results of such 
musty fodder, and we have already seen that such disorders of the diges- 
tive and urinary organs are very liable to effect the pregnant womb and 
induce abortion. 
