DICTIONARY OF THE VETERINARY ART. 191 



long time completely inundated, on which account the grass 

 became bad : this shows that keeping cows on food that is 

 deficient in nutrition, and difficult of digestion, is one of the 

 principal causes of miscarriage." 'It is supposed that the sight 

 of a slipped calf, the smell of putrid animal substance, is apt to 

 produce warping. Some curious cases of abortion which are 

 worthy of notice happened in the dairy of a French farmer. 

 For thirty years his cows had been subject to abortion. His 

 cow-house was large and well ventilated ; his cows were in 

 apparent health ; they were fed like others in the village ; 

 they drank the same water ; there was nothing different in the 

 pasture ; he had changed his servants many times in the 

 course of thirty years ; he pulled down the barn or cow house, 

 and built another, on a different plan ; he even, agreeably to 

 superstition, took away the aborted calf through the window, 

 that the curse of future abortion might not be entailed on the 

 cow that passed over the same threshold. To make all sure, 

 he had broken through the wall at the end of the cow-house, 

 and opened a new door. But still the trouble continued. 

 Several of his cows had died in the act of abortion, and he 

 had replaced them by others: many had been sold, and their 

 vacancies filled up. He was advised to make a thorough 

 change. This had never occurred to him ; but at once he saw 

 the propriety of the counsel. He sold every beast, and the 

 pest was stayed, and never appeared in his new stock. This 

 was owing, probably, to sympathetic influence ; and the 

 result of such influence is as fatal as the direct contagion. 

 (See Youatt.) 



The usual symptoms preceding abortion are a sudden filling 

 of the udder, and a loose, flabby, and sometimes swollen 

 appearance of the genitals, which discharge a little red-colored 

 fluid. The lancet and medicine have been resorted to with 

 very little success. Both of them are decidedly injurious: 

 the animal should be put into some dry, sheltered place by 

 herself, and kept on boiled mashes and gruel for a few days. 



Absorbents. Medicines that are given for the purpose of 

 neutralizing acid gas, or acidity of the stomach, such as lime- 



