^62 journal of Agriculture. [lo Sept., 19 io. 



himself had injected several ounces of cultures containmg myriads of 

 germs under the skin of non-pregnant cows without producing the slightest 

 evidence of any disturbance. Experiments were at present being carried 

 out in Great Britain and to a small extent here, with the intention of pro- 

 ducing an immunity by such injections. It was of course necessary to 

 treat the cows .some months before they were served, otherwise barrenness 

 might result before the animal had time to completly get rid of the germs 

 introduced and so become immune. Nothing definite could be said at 

 present further than that from the reports he had received the indications 

 were hopeful. 



Segregation of Infected from Non-infected. 



Another point of importance was the fact that an animal on being 

 contaminated by the germ of abortion might not abort for a ^■ery long 

 period afterwards. As a matter of fact it had been shown that as a rule 

 a month elapses between the time of actual infection and actual abortion, 

 and that in some cases several months might elapse. It is clear that there 

 must always be a great diflficulty in knowing which cows are likely to 

 abort and which are not. In other words, it becomes impossible to 

 separate those which are actually clear of the disease fiom those which 

 may contain the germs. Yet, were such a separation possible, manifestly 

 much could be done to stamp out the disease in a herd 



Recently, the British investigators have prepared a material which they 

 term '' abortin, " which the'y hope may be used for this purpose. Abortin 

 is prepared from sterilised cultures of the abortion microbe, much in the 

 same way as tuberculin is prepared from sterilised cultures of the tuber- 

 culosis microbe. Abortin is applied much in the same way as tuberculin, 

 that is, it is injected under the skin in small doses. ]f the animal has 

 aborted recently, or if she contains the germs of abortion, and so is 

 likely to abort in the near future, the injection of the abortin is followed 

 in from six to twelve hours by a definite rise of the body temperature, 

 which can be detected by the thermometer. Animals which have not 

 aborted, and which do not contain the germ of abortion are totally un- 

 affected in any way by the abortin. 



It will be seen that if further experiments bear out these conclusions, a 

 definite means will be placed at our disposal, by the use of which a herd 

 may be divided into two groups at any moment, and so at least the further 

 spread of the disease may be stopped by the prevention of fre.sh con- 

 tamination. 



Treatment of Infected Animals. 



As to treatment of animals which have been exposed to infection, that 

 is to say, the treatment of a herd in which abortion had appeared, atten- 

 tion has been drawn to the supposed value of carbolic acid, administered 

 either by the mouth, or under the skin. The lecturer failed to see how 

 much good could be expected from such treatment. The germ, to be 

 killed, is present in the womb. It is more resistant to the action of 

 carbolic acid than are the cells of the blood of any animal, yet, either 

 from the intestine, or from the tissues under the skin, the drug can only 

 reach the womb by way of the blood stream, in which it must necessarily be 

 so diluted as to be harmless at least for the blood. In other words, if any 

 antiseptic were strong enough to kill the germ in the womb, it should be 

 likely to do harm to the system before reaching there. In experimental 

 cases, where it was known the microbes were actually present — having been 

 artificially introduced — the carbolic acid treatment had failed. In one 

 case the administration of a total quantity of 8 ozs. of pure carbolic 



