210 PATHOLOGY OF I'EEGXAXCY. 



the physiognomy is anxious, and respiration hurried. When the foetus 

 is ahve there is perhaps less prostration, and — more particularly with 

 the Mare — there appears to be much abdominal pain. The animal often 

 looks anxiously to%Yards the flanks, paws with its fore feet and stamps 

 with its hind ones, moves from side to side, perspires at the flank, 

 breast, and elsewhere, lies down and gets up again, whisks the tail 

 incessantly, and exhibits every indication of increasing restlessness. At 

 the same time the abdomen loses its round shape, and drops ; if the 

 animal is in milk, the mammtB become soft and diminish in size more 

 or less rapidly, while the secretion diminishes ; but if it is not yielding 

 milk, then, on the contrary, they enlarge and become turgid ; the vulva 

 is tumefied, and from it escapes a tenacious mucus, serous, or sero-san- 

 guinolent, and — if the fcetus is dead — more or less foetid fluid, according 

 to circumstances. Then follow symptoms analogous to those which 

 characterise normal parturition — the uterus begins to contract, and the 

 expiratory muscles act simultaneously with it ; the expulsive efforts, or 

 " labour pains," acting more or less energetically and continuously, 

 according to the suddenness of the abortion and the strength and 

 health of the animal. The first result of this straining is the evacua- 

 tion of the bladder and rectum ; the next is the dilatation of the os 

 uteri and protrusion of the membranes into the vagina, then through 

 the vulva, where they appear externally as the " water-bag"; this may 

 rupture and the liquor amnii escape, and the pains becoming more 

 powerful, the foetus is at last expelled either nude or covered by the 

 membranes. This act occupies a variable period — from a few to many 

 hours, according to the strength of the animal ; and it may even require 

 humah intervention to bring it to a successful termination. In other 

 instances, however, the foetus is not expelled immediately after it is 

 dead, but- after many of the premonitory symptoms just described have 

 been manifested ; with the cessation of the movements in the foetus the 

 animal regains its ordinary tranquillity, appetite, and liveliness, and all 

 the symptoms disappear for one or more days, when they again set in, 

 and the foetus may be rejected without any apparent effort, or after 

 much straining. 



In the case of two or several foetuses, it may happen that the one or 

 two nearest the os are dead, and are expelled, the others being alive are 

 retained until pregnancy is complete ; or the contrary may occur, the 

 living foetuses being in proximity to the os, prevent ihe escape of the 

 dead ones, and these being kept in the uterus until delivery of the 

 others takes place, become mummified. 



And in some cases of what might be termed " violent " or " acute 

 abortion," when it suddenly sets in, and nothing is prepared for its 

 being carried to a successful termination, either on the part of the 

 foetus or of the mother, the latter is exhausted by ineffectual efforts, 

 and soon passes into a critical condition. 



Abortion differs from normal parturition chiefly in the state of the 

 cervix uteri. Towards the termination of pregnancy, this part of the 

 uterus becomes gradually shorteneol anol softer ; but in abortion we do 

 not have these progressive changes which are so favourable to the 

 passage of the foetus from the uterine cavity outwards. The cervix is 

 long and rigid as in the non-pregnant condition, and its dilatation is 

 therefore slower, more diflicult, and more incomplete than when gesta- 

 tion has reached its termination ; and especially as the muscular fibres 

 of the uterus have not acquired either their full development or contrac- 



