PREVENTION OF ABORTION 335 



cow should be removed from amongst the others whenever 

 these appear. By taking the temperature the attendant on 

 the outlook for signs of premature labour may receive warn- 

 ing of the approaching danger before any external evidences 

 are visible. The normal temperature of a cow in a byre is not 

 over 103 F., even when kept too warm and without proper 

 ventilation, but it goes higher as abortion approaches if the 

 affection be of a contagious nature. Quiet, and proper dieting, 

 may sometimes avert an impending attack, if the calf be alive. 



In cases of abortion the after-birth usually adheres firmly 

 to the button-like connections (cotyledons) with the uterus, 

 and, if not removed, part of it remains rotting for weeks. The 

 cow then falls off in condition, and if she be not attended to 

 there is danger of absorption of the fcetid matter into the 

 circulation, septicaemia and death. Should the opening-food 

 treatment not succeed in three to five days, the bulk of the 

 membrane left should be taken away by the hand, which should 

 be well smeared with carbolic oil before being introduced to 

 sever the connections. Tepid water, containing I per cent, of 

 pure carbolic acid, or one of the mixtures given later, should 

 be injected to wash out the uterus and vagina twice a day. 

 The operation necessary for the removal of the effete body is 

 dangerous, if rapid decay of the " cleansing " is going on and 

 putrid matter be present. The points of attachment to the 

 uterus are left more or less in the condition of open sores, by 

 which poison may enter the blood. Cows which have been 

 thus treated do not readily conceive in the following season, 

 unless they be disinfected, as described below. 



Means of preventing Abortion. (i) Cut over the seed 

 stems of such grasses in the pasture as are liable to the 

 attacks of ergot ; (2) treat the cows gently ; (3) supply 

 wholesome food and pure water, and abundance of fresh air 

 and sunlight ; (4) keep them in sanitary surroundings, and 

 especially avoid all communication with infected cattle or 

 their droppings, and exhalations of all kinds : to this end, 

 the cleansings from aborted cows should be burned, dipped 

 into scalding water, or, with the calf, buried deeply. 



Professor W. O. Williams, writing on the Prevention 

 of Epizootic Abortion, says : 



" Professor Nocard, of the Alfort Veterinary School, who 

 has made the study of epizootic abortion in cattle a speciality, 



