DISEASES OF THE PREGNANT ANIMAL. 175 



The diagnosis is arrived at by manual exploration, and by the absence 

 of some of the most characteristic indications of pregnancy. 



When the condition is diagnosed, and there is reason for interference, 

 the indications for treatme?it are plain : carefully dilate the os, evacuate 

 the contents of the uterus, and inject astringent and antiseptic lotions (as 

 carbolic acid i to 20) at intervals into its cavity. Give gentle laxatives 

 frequently ; guard against retention in the bladder, from which the urine 

 may be removed by means of a catheter, if necessary : and give nourish- 

 ing food, with tonics. 



CHAPTER II. 



Diseases of the Pregnant Animal. 



Owing to animals being kept in a more natural state, generally, than the 

 human species, when pregnant they are much less exposed to the risks 

 and inconveniences of that condition than woman. The difference in the 

 attitude of the body may also tend much to obviate those serious acci- 

 dents, and prevent those unpleasant consequences, which so often attend 

 gestation in the human female. 



Nevertheless, notwithstanding this immunity, pregnancy in animals 

 brings about certain modifications in the female organism which may 

 sometimes call for serious notice, either when it leads to a morbid predis- 

 position, or in its influence on the progress of certain diseases already ex- 

 isting at the time of conception, or which have developed during gestation. 

 There are also maladies which are peculiar to this condition, some of them 

 of great importance. 



SECTION I. — INFLUENCE OF GESTATION ON ORDINARY DISEASES. 



The influence of pregnancy on the course of the ordinary diseases of 

 animals has not yet been well ascertained, though it has long been ob- 

 served that such an influence exists, and has often been productive of 

 marked effects. 



And these may have been due, directly or indirectly, in some cases at 

 least, to the condition of the blood in the female, the red globules of which 

 are greatly diminished, and the proportion of albumen is also notably 

 decreased, w^hile the serum, on the contrary, is much above the normal 

 standard. The amount of fibrine likewise varies, though this variation is 

 neither so constant nor so uniform as in the other constituents ; but it 

 generally increases towards the termination of pregnancy.* Owing to 

 this decrease in the solid portion of the blood, and particularly in the red 

 globules, the pregnant female is more anaemic than plethoric. It is none 

 the less exposed to inflammatory attacks, however, owing to the excess of 

 fibrine \ but as Saint-Cyr justly remarks, these phlegmasia^ assume a 

 particular physiognomy, and run a very different course, to those observed 

 in ordinary conditions, and more especially with regard to depletive 

 measures, which have to be carefully resorted to — or, we might say, 

 abstained from. 



* In woman, it has been noted that the normal proportion of red globules is from 125 to 127 per 1000 

 and that durint; pregnancy this proportion falls to 120, 115, 95, 90, and even 87 per 1000 of the total mass 

 of the blood ; while the albumen descends from an average of 70J4 to 6'9, 66, and 62 per 1000. 



