Contagious Abortion in Cattle. 



Remarks on this subject will be confined to the 

 use of methylene blue as a treatment. 



As the methylene blue treatment is a comparatively 

 recent addition to our weapons against contagious 

 abortion, my experience with the treatment covers a 

 short period of time, about one year. Elsewhere in 

 this work I have advocated only thoroughly tried out 

 treatments, treatments that I have employed over 

 several years and in a number of cases sufficiently 

 large to speak with authority concerning them. It is 

 therefore with some hesitation that I recommend this 

 comparatively little tried treatment. 



During this period I had an opportunity to give 

 the treatment a fair test in three herds in which the 

 disease had a strong foot-hold, having existed con- 

 tinuously in one of the herds for over five years, dur- 

 ing which time every known treatment had been used 

 and had failed to check it. Under the methylene blue 

 treatment this herd has apparently been absolutely 

 purged of the trouble, all cows going to full term with 

 live calves last season and not a single abortion occur- 

 ing since the treatment was given. In the second 

 herd, as high as three cows aborted in one week and 

 the infection seemed to be especially virulent. Under 

 methylene blue treatment, the abortions promptly 

 stopped and apparently the herd is clean. 



61 



