514 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



proportion to her age, size, condition, and state of excitation in 

 which he may find her; and he should give a dose of physic 

 immediately after bleeding. The physic beginning to operate, 

 he should administer half a drachm of opium, and half an ounce 

 of sweet spirits of nitre. Unless she is in a state of great debility, 

 he should avoid, above all things, the comfortable drink, which 

 some persons so strangely recommend ; and which the cow-leech 

 will be almost sure to administer. He should allow nothing but 

 gruel, and he should keep his patient as quiet as he can. By 

 these means, he may occasionally allay the general or local irrita- 

 tion that precedes or causes the abortion, and the cow may yet 

 go to her full time. 



"Should, however, the discharge be foetid, the natural con- 

 clusion will be that the foetus is dead, and must be got rid of, 

 and that as speedily as possible. Bleeding may even then be 

 requisite, if much fever exists; or, perchance, the aforesaid com- 

 fortable drink may not be out of place. In other respects, the 

 animal must be treated as if her usual time of pregnancy had 

 been accomplished. 



" Much may be done in the way of preventing the formation 

 of this habit of abortion among the cows. The foetus must be 

 got rid of immediately. It should be buried deep, and far from 

 the cow pasture. Proper means should be taken to hasten the 

 expulsion of the placenta. A dose of physic should be given; 

 the ergot of rye should be administered ; the hand should be 

 introduced, and an effort made, cautiously and gently, to detach 

 the placenta: all violence, however, should be carefully avoided, 

 for considerable and fatal hemorrhage may bo speedily produced. 

 The parts of the cow should be well washed with a solution of 

 the chloride of lime, and this should be injected up the vagina, 

 and also given internally. In the meantime, and especially after 

 the expulsion of the placenta, the cowhouse should be well 

 washed with the same solution, in the manner that was recom- 



