556 Veterinary Obstetrics 



arouse their appetite for eating their young. He suggests, in 

 addition, that she be given veratri radix, and cites Vogel as recom- 

 mending 0.3 to 0.5 grammes given internally, while Harms pre- 

 fers to take a small piece of the root cut in the form of a wedge 

 and insert it beneath the skin of the animal. Others suggest 

 that vomition be induced by administering tartar emetic, or that 

 opium or camphor be given. Harms also cites Professor Landois, 

 who mentions an instance of a sow which showed a tendency to 

 devour her young and was cured of the habit by sorcery. In 

 this instance a local expert repeated a series of words for 100 

 consecutive times, stroking the sow over the head, and thereafter 

 she showed no further tendency to eat her young. As Harms 

 very well remarks, however, the best known remedy for these 

 animals, in which the vice has once occurred, is to fatten, and 

 send them to the butcher. 



The new-born usually gets the best care from its mother, when 

 she has been given natural and proper environment in \vhich to 

 bring forth her young and the birth has been normal. So far as 

 is practicable, the care of the young should be left to the instinct 

 of the mother, but the conditions of domestication impose cer- 

 tain dangers and ri.sks to the new-born which intelligent care 

 upon the part of the owner may minimize or obviate. 



It is essential to an intelligent consideration of the question to 

 bear in mind the changes in environment and function which 

 must occur when the fetus is expelled from the uterus and must 

 begin its extra-uterine life. Certain functions which have pre- 

 viously been carried on through the medium of the placenta of 

 the mother must now be taken up by the young animal itself in 

 a semi-independent manner. It is the safe establishment of these 

 functions which constitutes the chief concern to the owner. 



I. Prior to birth, the supply of oxygen for the fetus has been 

 carried from the lungs of the mother to the maternal placenta and 

 thence to the fetus, while the carbon dioxide and other waste or 

 injurious substances have been carried from the fetal circulation 

 through the fetal placenta, and thence through the circulation of 

 the mother, to be excreted from her lungs or oth^r organs. This 

 relationship has become suddenly interrupted by the act of birth 

 and must quickly be replaced by direct respiration through the 

 lungs of the new-born animal. The urgency for the establi.sh- 

 ment of this respiration is such that it permits no delay. The 



