CHAPTER XIX. 



CONTAGIOUS DISEASES— con^mwet^ 



INFECTIOUS ABOETION. 



Aboktion in cows is often seen as an epizootic, both in this 

 and other countries, and its pathology has been profoundly 

 studied in France and Switzerland, more particularly by Nocard, 

 and its clinical aspect by Strebel, Galtier, de Poncius, and Org ; 

 l)y Lavat, who has witnessed it in sheep ; by Biot, who considers 

 it as an infectious inflammation of the serous lining of the 

 uterus ; and by Herr G. Sand, Copenhagen, and Professor Bang. 

 In this country, MTadyeau, Woodhead, and Aitken endeavoured 

 to throw light upon its pathology. Their experiments were 

 repetitions of those of Nocard, crudely performed, and lead 

 to no fresh conclusions ; but a very valual)le paper was read 

 upon the subject by Mr. Harry Olver, F.Pi.C.V.S., Tamworth, 

 at the meeting of the National Veterinary Association at Bir- 

 mingham, 1895. 



Mr. Olver, who seems to have had great practical experience, 

 rightly describes the disease under two heads, namely, non- 

 contagious and contagious abortion, and states that abortion 

 occurs at from the third to the seventh or eighth month. He 

 also states that sporadic abortion is due to many causes, such 

 as cold, wet, fright, injuries, food, water (when drunk icy cold) ; 

 but he traverses the opinion of C. Stephenson and others, that 

 stagnant water contaminated by sewage has any appreciable 

 effect.i 



Contagious abortion rarely occure in the mare, ewe, or goat, 

 and still more rarely as an epizootic in this country, but cases 

 are recorded of undoubted outbreaks in America, Prance, 

 Australia, &c. 



^ See Transactions of National Veterinary Association, 1825. 



