ACCIDENTS OF PREGNANCY. ^ 203 



hind ones, moves from side to side, perspires at the flank, breast, and 

 elsewhere, lies down and gets up again, whisks the tail incessantly, and 

 exhibits every indication of increasing restlessness. At the ^ame time 

 the abdomen loses its round shape, and drops ; if the animal is in milk, 

 the mammae become soft and diminish in size more or less rapidly, while 

 the secretion diminishes ; but if it is not yielding milk, then, on the con- 

 trary, they enlarge and become turgid -, the vulva is tumefied, and from it 

 escapes a tenacious mucus, serous, or sero-sanguinolent, and, if the foetus 

 is dead, more or less foetid fluid, according to circumstances. Then 

 follow symptoms analogous to those which characterize normal parturition : 

 the uterus begins to contract, and the expiratory muscles act simultane- 

 ously with it \ the expulsive efforts, or " labor pains," acting more or 

 less energetically and continuously, according to the suddenness of the 

 abortion and the strength and health of the animal. The first result of 

 this straining is the evacuation of the bladder and rectum ; the next is 

 the dilatation of the os uteri and protrusion of the membranes into the 

 vagina, then through the vulva, where they appear externally as the 

 " wateT-bag ;" this may rupture and the liquor amnii escape, and the pains 

 becoming more powerful, the foetus is at last expelled either nude or 

 covered by the membranes. This act occupies a variable period — from 

 a few to many hours, according to the strength of the animal ; and it may 

 even require human intervention to bring it to a successful termination. 

 In other instances, however, the foetus is not expelled immediately after 

 it is dead, but after many of the premonitory symptoms just described 

 have been manifested j with the cessation of the movements in the foetus 

 the animal regains its ordinary tranquillity, appetite, and liveliness, and 

 all the symptoms disappear for one or more days, when they again set in, 

 and the foetus may be rejected without any apparent effort, or after much 

 straining. 



And in some cases of what might be termed " violent " or *' acute 

 abortion," when it suddenly sets in, and nothing being prepared for its 

 being carried to a successful termination, neither on the part of the foetus 

 nor of the mother, the latter is exhausted hy ineffectual efforts, and soon 

 passes into a critical condition. 



Abortion differs from normal parturition chiefly in the state of the 

 cervix uteri. Towards the termination of pregnancy, this part of the. 

 uterus becomes gradually shortened and softer ; but in abortion we do not 

 have these progressive changes which are so favorable to the passage of 

 the foetus from the uterine cavity outwards ; the cervix is long and rigid 

 as in the non-pregnant condition, and its dilatation is therefore slower, 

 more difficult, and more incomplete than when gestation has reached its 

 termination \ and especially as the muscular fibres of the uterus have not 

 acquired either their full development or contractile force. To counter- 

 balance this, there is the small size of the foetus, which does not require 

 so much space for its passage as if it were full grown; so that the diffi- 

 culty in removing it is less on this account, though the other difficulties 

 the obstetrist has so often to encounter in parturition may all be present. 



Results. — Abortion is always a serious accident, if only from the loss 

 of the foetus. It is frequently complicated by haemorrhage, which may 

 primarily have been the cause of uterine action 3 it may also result in 

 rupture of the organ, from the efforts the animal makes to overcome the 

 resistance offered by the cervix \ indeed, we may have the usual compli- 



