TREATMENT BEFORE CALVING. SSf 



doses of arnica, and if the cause has been a luxation or false step, 

 rhus toxicodendron; should the precursory symptoms still show 

 themselves, pulsatilla is the chief remedy ; after it, sahina and secaU 

 corniitum. Lastly, if the abortion has really taken place, and the 

 placenta delays from four to six hours, we must give sabina, or bet- 

 ter still secale cornutum, which generally brings on the desired re- 

 sult. ^Ye should have recourse to manual interference only in case 

 these means should fail. 



SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY. 



The symptoms of pregnancy in its early stage used to be thought 

 exceedingly unsatisfactory. 'I'he period of being in season (which 

 generally lasts three or four days, and then ceases for a while, and 

 returns in about three weeks) might entirely pass over ; and although 

 it was then probable that conception had taken place, yet in a 

 great many instances the hopes of the breeder were disappointed. 

 It was not until between the third and fourth month, when the belly 

 began to enlarge, or in many cases considerably later, and when 

 the motions of the foetus might be seen, or at all events felt by 

 pressing on the right flank, that the farmer could be assured that 

 his cow was in calf. That gicatest of improvements in veterinary 

 practice, the application of the ear to the chest and belly of various 

 animals (in order to detect by the different sounds— which, after a 

 short time, will be easily recognized — the state of the circulation 

 through most of the internal organs, and consequently the precise 

 seat and degree of inflammation and danger), has now enabled the 

 breeder to ascertain the existence of pregnancy at as early a stage 

 of it as six or eight weeks. The beating of the heart of the calf 

 will be distinctly heard, twice or more than twice as frequent as 

 that of the mother ; and each pulsation will betray the singular 

 double beating of the fcetal heart. This will also be accompanied by 

 the audible rushing of the blood through the vessels of the placenta 

 The ear should be applied to the right flank, beginning on the su- 

 perior part of it, and gradually shifting downward and backward. 

 These sounds will soon be heard, and cannot be mJstaken. 



TREATMENT BEFORE CALVING. 



Little alteration needs to be made in the management of the cow 

 for the first seven months of pregnancy ; except that, as she has not 

 only to yield milk for the profit of the farmer, but to nourish the 

 foetus which is growing in her womb, she should be well, yet not 

 too luxuriantly, fed. The half starved cow will not adequately dis- 

 charge this double duty, nor provide sufficient nutriment for the 

 calf when it has dropped ; while the cow in high condition will be 

 dangerously disposed to inflammation and fever, when, at the time 

 of parturition, «ihe is otherwise so susceptible of the power of every 



