300 DISEASES OF HORSES AND CATTLE. 



the finger; this is often so tightly closed as to pre- 

 vent the animal from becoming pregnant. The 

 body of the womb is made up of three coats: the 

 outside coat, or peritoneal, which is continuous 

 with the lining of the abdominal cavity; the mus- 

 cular coat is endowed with great power of con- 

 traction, and is the principal agent in expelling the 

 foetus. The inner coat is mucous membrane. In 

 the cow this membrane has a number of cone- 

 shaped bodies attached to its inner surface, some 

 sixty in number, called cotyledons. In the mare 

 this membrane is smooth; the placenta or after- 

 birth is attached to this membrane and is 

 usually expelled at the time of the birth of the 

 young creature. 



The fallopian tubes are two canals which lead 

 from the horns of the womb to the ovaries. They 

 are two pear-shaped bodies situated in the lumbar 

 region between the kidneys. When the spermatic 

 fluid of the male reaches the uterus it finds its way 

 to the fallopian tubes, through which it passes to 

 the ovaries, where it meets the ova in the fallopian 

 tubes and impregnation takes place. The fertil- 

 ized ovum passes down through the fallopian 

 tubes into the uterus, where changes occur which 

 form into a living creature. It will be readily un- 

 derstood from this description that any obstruc- 

 tion to these fallopian tubes will cause barrenness. 

 The ovum in passing the fallopian tubes receives 

 materials from the walls of the tubes to form the 

 covering called the chorion, the membrane which 

 attaches the foetus to the inner membrane of the 



