458 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
It does not appear that it is always the same organism which causes 
contagious abortion. In France, Nocard found in the aborting mem- 
branes and the mucous membrane cocci, or globular bodies, singly or in 
chains, and a very delicate rod-shaped organism by which the disease was 
propagated and which survived in the womb through the interval between 
successful pregnancies. The Scottish commission found as many as five 
separate kinds of bacteria. Bang, in Denmark, found a very delicate 
rod-shaped organism showing its most active growth at two different 
depths in nutrient gelatin, and which produced abortion in twenty-one 
days when inocculated on the susceptible pregnant cow. In America, 
Chester, of Delaware, and Moore, of New York, constantly found organ- 
isms differing somewhat in the two states, but evidently of the same 
group with the colon germ {Bacillus coli covimunis) . These were never 
found in the healthy pregnant womb, but in the cow that had aborted 
they continued to live in that organ for many months after the loss of 
the fetus. 
We may reasonably conclude that any micro-organism which can live 
in or on the lining membrane of the womb producing a catarrhal inflam- 
mation, and which can be transferred from animal to animal without 
losing its vitality or potency, is of necessity a cause of contagious 
abortion. As viewed, therefore, from the particular germ that may be 
present, we must recognize not one from only of contagious abortion, but 
several, each due to its own infecting germ, and each differing from 
others in minor particulars, like duration of incubation, infection of the 
general system, and the like. In Europe the germs discovered seem to 
affect the general system much more than do those found in America. 
Bang's germ caused abortion in twenty-one days; the New York germ, 
inoculated at service, often fails to cause abortion before the fifth or 
seventh month. 
Symptoms of Abortion. — As occurring during the first two or three 
months of gestation, symptoms may escape detection, and unless the 
aborted product is seen the fact of abortion may escape notice. Some 
soiling of the tail with mucus, blood, and the waters, may be observed or 
the udder may so show extra firmness and in the virgin heifer or dry 
cow the presence of a few drops of milk may be suggestive, or the fetus 
and its membranes may be found in the gutter or elsewhere as a mere 
clot of blood or as a membranous ball in which the forming body of the 
fetus is found. In water the villi of the outer membrane (chorion, PI. 
XII) float out, giving it a characteristically shaggy appearance. 
In advanced pregnancy abortion is largely the counterpart of parturi- 
tion, so that a special description is superfluous. The important thing is 
to distinguish the early symptoms from those of other diseases, so that 
the tendency may be arrested and the animal carried to full time if possi- 
ble. A cow is dull, sluggish, separate from the herd, chewing the cud 
languidly, or there may be frequent lying down and rising, uneasy move- 
ments of the hind feet or of the tail, and slightly accelerated pulse and 
breathing, and dry muzzle. The important thing is not to confound it 
with digestive or urinary disorder, but in a pregnant covv' to examine at 
once for any increase of mucus in the vagina, or for blood or liquid there 
