DISEASEo OF COWS. 435 



branes covering the foetus, especially iu the crypts of the 

 cotyledons, various microscopic organisms which are 

 not to be found in pregnant cows, or in cows that have 

 already calved, belonging to districts in which abortion 

 does not prevail. 



2. These microscopic organisms do not appear to 

 exert any injurious action upon the mucous membrane 

 of the uterus, whether during the period of the gestation 

 destined to be suddenly terminated, or after abortion 

 has taken place. 



3. The recurrence of abortion in the same subject is 

 satisfactorily accounted for, if we admit the pathogenic 

 influence of the microbes, by their remaining in the in- 

 terior of the uterus up to the time when they can act as 

 before upon a new foetus, or upon its envelopes. 



4. In like manner, cases of barrenness, following abor- 

 tion, maybe explained by the acid reaction of the uterine 

 fluid in which the microbes maintain themselves ; the 

 spermatozoa cannot retain their vitality except in an 

 alkaline medium. 



The careful study of the foregoing facts will easily 

 enable those concerned to take the needed precautions 

 for avoiding the occurrence of the simpler accidental 

 form of this injurious disease, as well as of that of the 

 still more serious or ruinous contagious form of it. Care 

 to prevent accidents which so often occur through neg- 

 lect or oversight ; to avoid the use of unwholesome food, 

 and exposure to the vigors of the season, in the one case, 

 and in the other to exercise the strictest precautions in 

 bringing in strange cattle to the herd ; to put the new- 

 comers into a close quarantine until their healthfulness 

 is proved will prevent the disease, and to exact from the 

 sellers a full guarantee of health before purchase and 

 removal of any animal will prevent the serious losses 

 which occur to the purchaser, if it does not evade the 

 danger. Just here it may be usefully suggested that a? 



