158 



djiily injections will be required for some time. In such cases, too, a 

 course of iron tonics (sulphate of iron, 2 drams, dailj^) will be liigiily 

 beneficial in restoring liealtli and vigor. 



ABORTION. 



Abortion is, strictly speaking, the expulsion of the impregnated 

 ovum at any i)eriod from the date of impregnation until the foal can 

 survive out of the Avomb. If the foal is advanced enough to live it is 

 premature 'parturition, and in the mare this may occur as earlj' as the 

 tenth month (three hundredth day). 



The mare may abort by reason of almost any cause that \evy pro- 

 foundly disturbs the system. Hence very violent inflammations of 

 important internal organs (bowels, kidneys, bladder, lungs) may 

 induce abortion. Profuse diarrhea, whether occurring from the reek- 

 less use of purgatives, the consumption of irritants In the food, or a 

 simple indigestion, is an effective cause. No less so is acute indiges- 

 tion with evolution of gas in the intestines (bloating). The presence 

 of stone in the kidnej^s, ureters, bladder, or urethra may induce so 

 much sympathetic disorder in the womb as to induce abortion. In 

 exceptional cases wherein mares come in heat during gestation service 

 by the stallion may cause abortion. ]>lows or pressure on the al^do- 

 men, rapid driving or riding of the pregnant mare, especially if she is 

 soft and out of condition from idleness; the brutal use of the spur or 

 Avhip, and the jolting and straining of travel by rail or boat are pro- 

 lific causes. Bleeding the pregnant mare, a painful surgical opera- 

 tion, and the throvfing and constraint resorted to for an operation are 

 other causes. Traveling on heavy, muddy roads, slips and falls on 

 ice, and jumping must be added. The stimulation of the abdominal 

 organs by a full drink of iced water may precipitate a miscarriage, as 

 ma}' exposure to a cold rain-storm or a very cold night after a Avarm 

 day. Irritant poisons that act on the urinary or generative organs, 

 such as Spanish flies, rue, savin, tansy, cotton-root bark, ergot of rye 

 or other grasses, the smut of maize and other grain, and various fungi 

 in musty fodder are additional causes. Frosted food, indigestible 

 food, and above all green succulent vegetables in a frozen state have 

 proved effective factors, and fiUhy, stagnant water is dangerous. 

 Low condition in the dam and plethora have in opposite ways caused 

 abortion, and hot relaxing stables and lack of exercise strongly con- 

 duce to it. The exhaustion of the sire by too frequent service, entail- 

 ing debility of the ofl'spring and disease of the foetus or of its envelopes, 

 must be recognized as a further cause. 



The symptoms vary mainly according as the abortion is early or late 

 in pregnancy. In the first jnonth or two of pregnancy the mare may 

 miscarry without observable symptoms, and the fact only appears by 

 her coming in heat. If more closely observed a small clot of blood 

 may be found behind lier, in which a careful search reveals tha 



