Infections of the Ovum, Embryo and Fetus 533 



ease. I have yet to see quarantined cows receive that atten- 

 tion and care which is accorded the presumably well animals. 



The effect of the quarantine of aborters upon the re- 

 mainder of the herd is nil. The removal of an aborter after 

 the act, or while it is in course, does not eliminate or modify 

 any possible injury from the unobserved discharges which 

 have occurred days, weeks, or months preceding the expul- 

 sion of the fetus. More important still, the quarantine of 

 an aborter can not possibly cure or ameliorate the infection 

 which exists in the uterus or cervix of another pregnant cow 

 or heifer. 



In the quarantine scheme commonly advised, there is in- 

 cluded only a minority of animals in which the embryo or 

 fetus dies and is expelled. Up to the fourth or fifth month 

 of pregnancy in dairy cattle, the expulsion of the embryonic 

 or fetal cadaver is not observed. In beef cattle, especially 

 those in extensive pastures, the observation is far less ac- 

 curate. While the expulsion of fetal cadavers is doubtless 

 less frequent in beef than in dairy cows, it is equally certain 

 that the apparent difference is due partly to a difference in 

 the accuracy of observation. 



The quarantine of aborters can not lessen the dangers 

 from those intensely infected animals which do not abort. 

 When metritis exists during pregnancy, it necessarily con- 

 tinues after parturition, frequently with retained fetal mem- 

 branes. The volume of highly infectious material, identical 

 with the discharges following abortion, is usually far greater 

 than that associated with abortion, but the quarantine 

 scheme generally recommended ignores these. Finally, 

 many cows which drop apparently healthy calves and are 

 to outward appearances perfectly well, when professionally 

 examined sixty, ninety or more days post partum, show an 

 intense cervicitis with a few drops of pus in the cervical 

 canal and in the cervical end of the uterine cavity. Noth- 

 ing but harm can come from attempting to breed such cows, 

 but quarantine, as commonly advised for aborters, has no 

 influence whatever upon these animals. I have examined 

 herds where the abortions recorded did not exceed 15 per 



