206 PATHOLOGY OF PREGNANCY 



immediately.^ Filthy putrid water has also very frequently a perni- 

 cious influence on gestation. Some plants — such as the horse-tails 

 (Equisctacece), sedges (Gyperacece), etc. — and the leaves of beetroot, 

 readily induce abortion, according to several authorities. Eue, savin, 

 ergot of rye, and other ecbolics will, of course, have a tendency to cause 

 expulsion of the foetus more or less readily ; and toxical substances, 

 such as cantharides, which act upon the uterus, will do the same. 

 Purgatives, especially those of a drastic kind, are a fertile cause ; and 

 opium, digitalis, and some other drugs have to be administered with 

 caution. Food or herbage altered by the presence of cryptogamic 

 vegetation, especially when damp, has long been known to cause abor- 

 tions. Ergotised grasses and grains have often produced wide-spread 

 losses from this accident. ^ 



Excessive muscular exertion and unusual travelling, and especially if 

 there is a predisposition to abortion, is very likely to produce it ; if the 

 exertion is sudden and severe, or even moderate, but coming after a 

 long period of rest, it is all the more certain. Contusions to the 

 abdomen by kicks or falls, or squeezing through a narrow doorway or 

 passage, railway or steam-boat travelling, blows and shocks, keeping 

 the animals in stalls with very inclined floors, are all so many causes. 

 A case came under my observation recently, of a little Bitch, extremely 

 fat, which aborted at a late period of gestation, through frequently 

 ascending and descending a steep staircase. 



Access of the male not unfrequently produces a miscarriage ; and 

 exploration per ■vaginam by the expert has also been blamed, as well 

 as surgical operations performed on pregnant animals — bleeding, for 

 instance, or throwing an animal down to be operated upon.^ 



^ Saint-Cyr mentions that Gelle has witnessed nearly one-fifth of a flock of Sheep 

 abort immediately after drinking from a pond, the ice on which had to be broken to 

 water them. Audoy reports an exactly similar occurrence ; and Delorme, who haw also 

 observed analogous accidents, adds that they are most likely to happen when the Sheep 

 have been deprived of water for several days. Huvellier mentions a rich grazier of 

 Merlerault who owned ten brood Mareg, one half of which aborted every year, because 

 they were sent three times a da}' to drink cold water. Often, after quenching their 

 thirst, they trembled, were seized with colic, and aborted. The regime was changed ; 

 the ISIares received water at morning and mid-day in the stable, a handfid of bran being 

 put in the water ; and only in the evening were they allowed to be watered outside, 

 after the stable-doors had been opened for an hour. The abortions ceased. Flandrin 

 relates similar accidents occux-ring to the Mares belonging to the Prince of Conde, and 

 from the same cause. 



* The Veterinary Journal (vol. i., p. 422) alludes to an occurrence of this kind in 

 New Zealand in 1875. It appears that this accident was comparatively rare in that 

 colony until the introduction of rye-grass on the pastures, after which it was common, 

 and a cause of great loss when the rye became ergotised. The same journal (vol. ii. , 

 p. 51) contains an account of serious abortions among Mares in Germany, due to rust 

 {Trkhobasis rubigo) on the straw on which they were fed. In Animal Playiies (London, 

 1871) many interesting notices are given of similar occurrences. 



Haselbach reports that in a cow-shed where maize infested with its parasitic fungus 

 (Utitila(/o mh'idi!>) was given to the cattle, eleven aborted within eight days. The food 

 was changed at once, and the other Cows escaped the accident. A certain quantity was 

 administered to two pregnant Bitches, and they both expelled their young. 



With regard to the ergot of rye, its action as an ecbolic does not appear to be so 

 certain in Herbivorous as in Carnivorous animals, large quantities of it having been 

 given to pregnant Cows without abortion resulting. 



^ Professor Bonley performed the operation of castration on three pregnant Cows ; 

 they aborted in two days after, and one died. Nevertheless, Chanel has seen a cas- 

 trator operate on a Sow about two months pregnant. Three fcetuses, the size of the 

 middle fing-er, were removed, along with the portion of cortiu in which they were con- 

 tained. The poor beast lost much blood, and was very ill for six or seven days ; yet in 

 more than two months afterwards it brought forth five young Pigs, which it suckled. 



