124 THE BREEDING OF ANIMALS 



standing side by side in the same barn. The Scottish 

 Committee appointed to investigate abortion found that 

 infection might be carried from a diseased cow to a healthy 

 animal by inserting a small wad of cotton into the vagina 

 of a diseased cow for twenty minutes and transferring 

 this to the vagina of a healthy pregnant cow or sheep. 

 Such infection invariably caused abortion within a month. 1 

 The specific organism Bacterium abortus is probably not 

 the only germ which may cause abortion. MacFadyean 2 

 has called attention to the very great increase in the 

 sterility of cows in Prussia and Switzerland during recent 

 years. The cause of this sterility has been ascribed to a 

 disease known as " infectious granular vaginitis." This 

 affection produces an acute inflammation of the vulva 

 and vagina and the infection is spread through a herd 

 by the bull. Law 3 holds " that any micro-organism 

 which can live in or on the living membrane of the womb 

 producing a catarrhal inflammation, and which can be 

 transferred from animal to animal without losing its 

 vitality or potency is of necessity a cause of contagious 

 abortion." 



119. Treatment for contagious abortion. The con- 

 tinuance of contagious abortion is generally prolonged 

 even under the best of circumstances. Treatment may 

 sometimes be very successful, and again any form of treat- 

 ment may fail to make any lasting impression upon the 

 disease. As the bull is the chief source of contagion, the 

 treatment should start with him. Veterinarians recom- 

 mend that the sheath and external genitals of the bull 



1 Law, "Diseases of Cattle," U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 1908. 



2 MacFadyean, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 1909, p. 337. 



3 Law, loc. cit., p. 166. 



