212 PA THOL OG Y OF GESTA TION. 



The foetus is usually dead, though when it is expelled (in the Cow) 

 after the fifth month it may be alive ; but it is weakly and soon dies, 

 even when born near the termination of pregnancy. Barrier mentions 

 that these calves make a rattling noise when breathing, accompanied by 

 the discharge of a rusty-colored mucilaginous fluid from the nostrils ; 

 that they bellow continually, and are always emaciated and flabby, the 

 gums and palate being pale, and the umbilical vessels livid and withered- 

 looking. The dyspnoea and great weakness evinced by them shows that 

 they are not properly organized. Those which are dead when expelled 

 exhibit indications of having ceased to live a short time previously. 



As has been stated, all the animals on a pasture or in a shed where 

 the disease prevails, do not abort at the same time, but at intervals. 

 When one aborts, another — its neighbor perhaps — appears to prepare for 

 the event, which occurs in about eight days ; then some days after this it 

 is the turn of another, and so on until two-thirds, or perhaps even all, of 

 the pregnant Cows beyond three months' gestation have miscarried. 



It has also been mentioned that it is only after being some time in 

 sheds in which the disease is present, that newly-purchased pregnant 

 Cows are attacked ; those which have passed their eighth month and near 

 calving escaping abortion. 



Darreau alludes to instances in which a pregnant Cow, leaving a shed 

 in which abortions prevailed, and transferred to another where the acci- 

 dent had aiot been seen, would remain all right for some time, then sud- 

 denly miscarry, and in the course of fifteen days other abortions would 

 occur in this shed, testifying to the danger of keeping pregnant Cows in 

 contact with or in proximity to those which have miscarried in this way. 

 It has also been stated that an animal which miscarries has always a ten- 

 dency to do so again. But it has been observed that if cows are well fed, 

 the period of gestation after each abortion is often longer; so that if a 

 Cow aborts the first time at six months, it will do so again at the seventh 

 month, and the third time a little before the ninth month, reaching its full 

 period in three pregnancies. 



Treatment. — If the malady is suspected to be due to any one partic- 

 ular cause, or if there exist predisposing causes, then the indications for 

 the prevention or cure of the diseased condition are obvious. The atonic 

 state which seems to favor the occurrence of infectious abortion in or after 

 certain rainy seasons, should be remedied by good food and tonics — and 

 especially preparations of iron. Tonics are particularly serviceable when 

 abortion is due to ergotized food ; though Zundel recommends the inter- 

 nal administration of carbolic acid. 



If, however, we admit the most common and efficient cause to be infec- 

 tion — that abortion is due to the presence of an agent transmissible from 

 an affected animal, or something that has belonged to it, to another in 

 health — then the first and fundamental indication is to remove or isolate 

 the source of the mischief. 



When, therefore, abortion occurs, and there is reason to believe that 

 this accident is in its nature infectious, the foetus and all pertaining to it 

 should be removed as promptly and completely as possible from the shed 

 or place in which the animal is located. The Cow itself should also be 

 removed, and kept altogether isolated, or at least away from all other 

 pregnant cattle, with a special attendant employe^! to look after it ; this, 

 attendant should not go near the unaffected cattle, and the excreta from 

 the cow should also be carefully kept out of their way. 



