Infections of the Gravid Uterus 469 



from the vulva. In other cases vaginal examination reveals 

 necrotic membranes protruding from the cervical canal. 

 Sometimes the cervical canal is dilated little or none at all, 

 but may be open, and the examiner may find that the uterine 

 seal is absent or breaking down and mixed with thin, black, 

 fetid exudate. The cervix is comparatively sound; the 

 uterus, wholly necrotic, is powerless to dilate the cervix. 

 Rectal palpation generally reveals an enormously enlarged, 

 emphysematous fetus which crepitates under manipulation. 

 The massive fetal cadaver may be palpable from the exterior 

 through both flanks. 



The prognosis is hopeless. The animal dies within twelve 

 to forty-eight hours. 



E. The Placentitis of Pregnancy 



Endometritis can not readily occur without participation 

 of both the placental and non-placental areas. Generally 

 the non-placental areas suffer primarily while the placental 

 structures show an interesting degree of resistance. So 

 there is observed an intercotyledonal endometritis with 

 great volumes of exudate in the utero-chorionic space, while 

 the placental structures are apparently intact and the fetus 

 is alive and healthy. But it is difficult to understand how 

 an important infection can exist for a long period, when of 

 large volume or high virulence, without involving also the 

 placental structures. It appears certain that as a rule the 

 placental areas are the most resistant of the uterine mucosa, 

 and, so far as investigators have proceeded, this view is well 

 supported. In studying the pregnant uterus in the abattoir, 

 interesting lesions are recognizable which serve to explain, 

 or to add interest to, some clinical phenomena. 



(a) Peripheral placentitis. As a rule some, many, or all 

 placentules in the gravid uterus show peripheral dehiscence. 

 The chorionic tufts have become detached and lie outside 

 the placental crypts. The separation is usually apparent 

 after the sixth month of pregnancy and becomes increas- 

 ingly prominent as pregnancy nears its close. Some of the 

 smaller placental areas about the os uteri internum become 



