180 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



mucous membrane lining the vulva becomes swollen and of a darker 

 bluish red hue, and the mucous secretion increases, becoming very 

 abundant just before calving. When the feeding has not been altered 

 nor restricted a steady diminution of the salts of lime, excreted in the 

 urine, is an attendant on pregnancy, the lime being demanded for the 

 growing body of the fetus. 



After the fifth month the movements of the calf may often be observed 

 in the right flank, nearly in front of the stifle, when the cow is drinking 

 cold water. The sensation of cold on the side of the first stomach, 

 which lies to the left and directly below the womb (Plate i), stimulates 

 the calf to active movements, which are detected on the sudden jerking 

 outward of the abdominal wall as if from blows delivered from within. 

 In a loose pendant abdomen in the latter months of gestation the skin 

 may often be seen pushed out at a sharp angle, irrespective of the 

 period of drinking. 



Another mode of examination through the flank is by touch. The 

 palm of the hand is pressed strongly inward, about 8 inches in front of 

 the stifle and a little below, several times in succession and is then 

 brought to rest with the pressure maintained. Presently there are 

 felt distinct and characteristic movements of the fetus, which has been 

 disturbed and roused to action. Another mode is to press the closed 

 fist strongly inward in the same situation and hold it so, forming a deep 

 indentation in the abdominal wall. Presently the knuckles are felt to 

 be struck by a solid body, which is no other than the fetus that had 

 been displaced to the left by the push of the hand, and now floats back 

 in its liquid covering (amniotic fluid see Plate xn) downward and to 

 the right. 



Of all the modes of examination by touch, that done through the 

 rectum gives the earliest satisfactory indications. The hand and arm 

 well oiled are introduced, and the excrement having been removed if 

 necessary, the palm of the hand is turned downward and the floor of 

 the pelvis carefully examined. There will be felt in the median line 

 the pear-shaped outline of the bladder, more or less full, rounded or 

 tense, according to the quantity of urine it contains. Between this and 

 the hand will be felt a soft, somewhat rounded tubular body, which 

 divides in front into two smaller tubes or branches, extending to the 

 right and left into the abdomen. This is the womb, which in its virgin 

 or unimpregnated condition is of nearly uniform size from before back- 

 ward, the main part or body being from 1 to 2 inches across, and the 

 two anterior branches or horns being individually little over an inch 

 wide. Immediately after conception the body and one of the horns 

 begin to enlarge, the vacant horn remaining disproportionately small, 

 and the enlargement will be most marked at one point where a solid 

 rounded mass indicates the presence of the growing embryo. In case 

 of twins both horns are enlarged. At a more advanced stage, when 

 the embryo begins to assume the form of the future animal, the rounded 



