CAUSES OF ABORTION. 131 



seven or eight females, and yet the females of those families 

 have girls and boys in about equal proportions. 



Mr. SuRTEVANT of South Framingham. I will narrate one 

 item of experience in regard to Jersey bulls. It is well known 

 that Jersey bulls are very apt to get bull-calves. In two in- 

 stances, I have had three bull-calves to one heifer calf. When 

 the bull was a year old, I put him to three or four heifers or 

 cows, and those were all he went to that season. He got all 

 heifer calves the first year, and after, that down to his fifth year 

 three-quarters were bull-calves. 



Mr. WAi^D. I suppose that in a state of nature, the cows 

 are served in the early stages of heat ; and yet we know that 

 they produce about an equal number of males and females. 



Mr. Goodman. There is a question in regard to breeding 

 early. There is a great difference in the breed of animals in 

 this respect. For instance, a Jersey heifer will take the bull 

 when four or five months old, and come in at thirteen months ; 

 therefore, those who breed Jersey cattle generally put them to 

 the bull quite early and have them come in early. Shorthorns 

 are brought in early, in order to develop their milking qualities, 

 and then allowed to go barren for a year. 



Dr. Peirce of Edgartown. The lecturer has stated that 

 abortion is frequently the cause of sterility. I would like to 

 ask if the lecturer or any other gentleman can tell us what is 

 the cause of abortions, or suggest a remedy. 



Professor Law. I presume that abortions are not to be attrib- 

 uted to any single specific cause. A great number of causes 

 probably contribute to produce these abortions, and when once 

 they occur in a herd, the extreme sensibility to odors which cows 

 manifest, and the sympathy with each other, lead oftentimes a 

 majority of the pregnant animals to abort, merely because they 

 have seen otliers abort, not because of any special cause in 

 themselves, other than this. We are very well acquainted with 

 many causes of abortion, such as injuries, living and sleeping on 

 marshy ground, any disturbance of the digestive or urinary 

 organs, and above all, blows on the abdomen. In connection 

 with this disturbance of the urinary organs, I will ask for some 

 information. In those parts of New York where abortions 

 most prevail, I find we have very hard water. The subsoil is 

 limestone, and the water is very strongly impregnated with lime. 



