2 1 o PA THOLOG Y OF GESTA TION. 



cause of this kind of abortion. He also adds that it is possible that, • 

 among the fungus or parasitic elements which infest forage in wet sea- 

 sons, there may be some which act, like the ergot of rye, directly on the 

 uterus. But in addition to the influence of seasons, there is also an 

 influence of locality — the disease fixes itself in particular places and 

 spares others. For instance, Heuze remarks that in the department of 

 the Nievre, France, abortions are very few in the arrondissement of 

 Clamecy, while in other arrondissements there is scarcely a calf. 



With regard to local conditions or causes, it is certain that the regime 

 to which animals are subjected cannot be abduced as in operation ; for 

 the abortions occur under every kind of regime, and as frequently with 

 poor as with lean stock, and irrespective of age, breed, or constitution. 



So long ago as the end of the last century, contagion or infection was 

 believed to play the principal, if not the sole part ; for it was observed 

 that when a Cow aborted in a place where other pregnant Cows were 

 kept, these would abort in succession until all, or nearly all, had mis- 

 carried. Not only this, but it has often happened that a newly-purchased 

 Cow-in-calf has been introduced into a farm where the Cows had always 

 calved favorably at the proper time ; and when the stranger has aborted, 

 first one, then another, then a third, and so on, of the others have 

 experienced the same misfortune, and the malady has persisted in the 

 place for consecutive years. It is not always the pregnant Cows next to 

 the one which has aborted that are first seized, but rather animals some 

 distance from it. 



Again, when pregnant Cows which were living in a place where the 

 disease had not existed, have been introduced into a stable where it pre- 

 vails, those that are at the end of gestation calve regularly and normally 

 soon after arrival ; while if they are a certain time in the infected stable 

 before this period is reached, they abort like the others. 



So that the presence of an infecting element, if not absolutely proved, 

 is at least admissible, after the very numerous observations of the most 

 competent veterinarians — especially of Darreau, Cruzel, Felizet, Bouley, 

 and Lafosse in France ; and Rueff, Haubner, Franck, and Roloff in 

 Germany. The insalubrity and bad hygiene of cowsheds and stables 

 appear to have no influence in the pathogenesis of the accident, as it 

 appears quite as severely and readily in those which are well ventilated 

 and cleansed as those in the opposite conditions ; in fact, nothing can 

 explain the occurrence of enzootic abortion except the presence of a 

 contagtujn or a miasmatic infection. 



The existence of a contagium would appear to be proved by the result 

 of an experiment performed by Franck, of the Munich Veterinary School. 

 It has been established by microscopical investigation, that on the lining 

 membrane of the vagina and that of the vulva, there is constantly 

 found, as on the buccal mucous membrane, a minute fungus mixed with 

 the mucus, in every respect similar to the Leptothrix buccalis, which, 

 according to Hallier, is only an allotropic condition of the ordinary 

 moulds, such as the Penicillium glaucmn or Aspergillus — being, in fact, 

 a kind of bacterium. Towards the period of parturition, these bodies 

 become extraordinarily abundant, and they appear to concur in !^ decom- 

 position of the foetal membranes and their expulsion ; when the mem- 

 branes are retained and putrefy in the uterus, they are extremely 

 numerous, as are the micrococci. Franck has sho^n that, by smearing 

 the vaginal canal of a pregnant animal to a certain depth with the 



