DISEASES OF. CATTLE 171 



(diuresis), and red- water are common results of such musty fodder, 

 and we have already seen that such disorders of the digestive and 

 urinary organs are very liable to affect the pregnant womb and in- 

 duce abortion. 



The riding of one another by cows is attended by such severe 

 muscular exertion, jars, jolts, mental excitement, and gravitation of 

 the womb and abdominal organs backward that it may easily cause 

 abortion in a predisposed animal. 



Keeping in stalls that slope too much behind (over 2 inches) 

 acts in the same way, the compression due to lying and the gravita- 

 tion backward proving more than a predisposed cow can safely bear. 



Deep gutters behind the stalls, into which one or both hind 

 limbs slip unexpectedly, strain the loins and jar the body and womb 

 most injuriously. Slippery stalls in which the flooring boards are 

 laid longitudinally in place of transversely, and on which no cleats 

 or other device is adopted to give a firm foothold, are almost equally 

 dangerous. Driving on icy ground or through a narrow doorway 

 where the abdomen is liable to be jammed are other common causes. 

 Offensive odors undoubtedly cause abortion. To understand this one 

 must take into account the preternaturally acute sense of smell pos- 

 sessed by cattle. By this sense the bull instantly recognizes the 

 pregnant cow and refrains from disturbing her, while man, with all 

 his boasted skill and precise methods, finds it difficult to come to a 

 ^'ust conclusion. The emanations from a cow in heat, however, will 

 instantly draw the bull from a long distance. Carrion in the pas- 

 ture fields or about slaughterhouses near toy, the emanations from 

 shallow graves, dead rats or chickens about the barns, and dead 

 calves, the product of prior abortions, are often chargeable with the 

 occurrence of abortions. Aborting cows often fail to expel the after- 

 birth, and if this remains hanging in a putrid condition it is most 

 injurious to pregnant cows in the near vicinity. So with retained 

 afterbirth in other cows after calving. That some cows kept in filthy 

 stables or near-by slaughterhouses may become inured to the odors 

 and escape the evil results is no disproof of the injurious effects so 

 often seen in such cases. 



The excitement, jarring, and jolting of a railroad journey will 

 often cause abortion, especially as the cow nears the period of calv- 

 ing, and the terror or injury of railway or other accidents prove in- 

 comparably worse. 



All irritant poisons cause abortions by the disorder and inflam- 

 mation of the digestive organs, and if such agents act also on the 

 kidneys or womb, the effect is materially enhanced. Powerful pur- 

 gatives or diuretics should never be administered to the pregnant cow. 



During pregnancy the contact of the expanding womb with the 

 paunch, just beneath it, and its further intimate connection through 

 nervous sympathy with the whole digestive system, leads to various 

 functional disorders, and especially to a morbid craving for unnat- 

 ural objects of food. In the cow this is shown in the chewing of 

 bones, pieces of wood, iron bolts, articles of clothing, lumps of hard- 

 ened paint, etc. An unsatisfied craving of this kind, producing con- 



