888 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



beginning of the third, to soften a little. It may then, perhaps, come 

 away of its own weight ; if not, it is easily removed by inserting the hand 

 and arm to the shoulder, and then with the other hand, applying gentle 

 traction to the hanging niembiane ; at the same time take each cotyledon 

 or button by which the placenta is attached to the womb, in turn, and 

 by pinching it a little between the thumb and fore finger, it will detach 

 from it, much as iu unbuttoning a garment. Great care is required not 

 to pull off one of these cotyledons, or the resulting hemorrhage might 

 prove fatal. If, however, this should be done by mischance, cold water 

 thrown over the loins will be the proper treatment. 

 IV. Abortion and Miscarriage. 



Premature expulsion of the foetus is called abortion in the earlier 

 periods of gestation, and miscarriage or premature labor in the later 

 ones. It not infrequently takes on an enzootic character, and by running 

 through a whole herd entails enormous loss on the stock owner. This 

 tendency, as was remarked in Chapter I of this Part, is stronger among 

 cows than any other of the domestic animals. It is usually explained by 

 attributing it to sympathy, using the words pathologically, but it in reality 

 occurs from three distinct sources, viz. : Habit, accident, and infecticm. 

 In the latter case it is very often enzootic. 



Causes. — The most common causes are accidents, or violence of some 

 kind, — being hooked and pushed a])out by other cattle, or kicked and 

 clubbed by brutal herdsmen; jumping, leaping, falling, etc.; ergot in the 

 hay or other fodder, such as has been badly harvested or grown in a wet 

 season, especially on low, swampy ground. From habit a cow that has 

 aborted once is apt to repeat it at about the same stage of gestation, due 

 probably to a weakened condition of the genital organs and an unnaturally 

 sensitive nervous system. Enzootic abortion is always due to infection, 

 the cause being bacterial. Two different germs are thought by the best 

 authorities to be the active agents, viz. ; Leptothrix vaginalis and the 

 penicillinm glancum. These germs may be carried to a stable in many 

 ways, and being raised in dust and falling or lodging on the external gen- 

 itals of a pregnant cow, set up sufficient irritation in the vagina and uterus 

 to interfere with the nutrition of the fcetus, causing it to perish, then 

 abortion is inevitable. 



How to know it. — There will ])e dullness, suspension of rumination, 

 anxiety in the countenance, separation from companions; at length, a Sinall 

 water bag will be passed, and a little later a fcetus. Or, perhaps, all that 

 may be noticed, to indicate something w^rong will be a tiny fcetus founcL 

 somewhere. More or less discharge will follow. It will be of a bloody, 

 mucous character, and is likely to become })urulent after a few days. 



Treatment. — For the original case (in which the mischief is nearly al- 

 ways completed before discovered), nothing special can be done, except tr 



