47 6 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



ine body cavity and may extend deeply into one horn. In 

 one abattoir cow I observed a complete adventitious (dif- 

 fuse) placenta involving the entire endometrium. While 

 adventitious placentae are always the consequence of coty- 

 ledonal necrosis, extensive death of the cotyledons is not or- 

 dinarily followed by adventitious placenta; instead, the ex- 

 tensive disease commonly includes the endometrium and 

 either kills the patient or renders her absolutely sterile. 



(f) Calcification of the placenta occurs very rarely. I 

 have observed but one case, that being in an abattoir ani- 

 mal. The calcification, which was very marked, involved 

 uniformly all cotyledons. The placental stratum was pale 

 yellow, resistant and gritty. There was no evidence that 

 the calcification had interfered with embryonic development. 

 The cause was not clear. It was possibly the result of inter- 

 placental hemorrhage stopping short of placental dehiscence 

 and embryonic death. Had parturition occurred, retained 

 fetal membranes with necrosis of the cotyledons would 

 probably have followed. 



(g) Specific placentitis, due to placental tuberculosis and 

 actinomycosis, doubtless occurs rarely and, when pregnancy 

 terminates, leaves behind an obstinate retention of the fetal 

 membranes, the character of which is not clinically appar- 

 ent. Naturally the specific disease promptly leads to in- 

 curable sterility. 



3. Infections of the Ovum, Embryo, and Fetus 



A. Death of the Fertilized Ovum 



The death of the fertilized ovum is not directly recog- 

 nizable clinically, but its occurrence must be admitted. 

 Ovarian infection evidently causes death of the ovum within 

 the ovisac. When an ovum passes from the ovisac into a 

 virulently infected oviduct, the cell is immediately placed in 

 great peril and may perish prior to fertilization. Examina- 

 tion of infected oviducts after slaughter of the patient shows 

 that the highly motile spermatozoa move through the badly 

 infected tube and reach the pavilion ready to fertilize the 

 ovum as soon as it is discharged. Presumably this occurs 



