214 PATHOLOGY OF PREGNANCY. 



impossible after fifteen days to assert with absolute certainty that such 

 an accident has occurred, the generative organs having at that date 

 resumed their ordinary physiological condition. For it is only by an 

 early inspection of these that v^'e can enlighten ourselves as to what 

 may have taken place. In this inspection is included that of the 

 mammce, which are always a little tumid, hard, and painful, and often 

 yield a small quantity of milk after a recent abortion ; the tail, the 

 hair of which is soiled and matted by blood, mucus, and the liquor 

 amnii ; the vulva, which is swollen and dilated, and its mucous mem- 

 brane often presents, in addition to its uniform and more or less deep- 

 red colour, ecchymoses due to the rubbing or bruising it experiences 

 during the passage of the foetus. On careful vaginal exploration, if the 

 cervix is found to be softer than usual and the os partially open, and, 

 better still, if the hand can be introduced without much difficulty into 

 the uterine cavity, and a quantity of sanguinolent or sanious fluid, or 

 remains of membranes, is discovered in it, it may be concluded that a 

 foetus has been recently expelled. 



Treatment. — The treatment is preventive and remedial. With regard 

 to preventive treatment, this must mainly depend upon a knowledge of 

 the causes which produce abortion— which we have seen are numerous, 

 and care in avoiding or modifying these. This pei'tains to the chapter 

 on the hygiene of pregnancy (p. 166). With regard to animals which 

 have a predisposition to abortion, they should not, if possible, be bred 

 from. Should it be desired to breed from them, if they are Bovines, 

 they must not be put frequently to the male, and certainly not before 

 eighteen months or two years have elapsed since the last abortion. If 

 the accident has been due to in-itation of the generative organs, then 

 these should receive appropriate treatment. When pregnancy has 

 again occurred, every precaution should be observed to continue it to a 

 successful termination, by avoiding or removing those causes which 

 previously induced the accident, and attending to the general health — 

 combating plethora on the one hand, or anaemia on the other ; guarding 

 against constipation by giving proper food and administering mild 

 laxatives, and against irritation, whether general or uterine, by doses 

 of chloral or opium given by mouth or by rectum ; and allowing only 

 gentle exercise towards the end of gestation. 



When abortion appears to be imminent, active intervention generally 

 becomes necessary in order to avert it ; and therefore it must be ac- 

 curately diagnosed. We have already alluded to the symptoms and 

 means by which this accident may be distinguished. If the veterinarian 

 is fortunately called upon in good time, and he is able to assure himself 

 that the fa3tus is still alive, that the membranes are not ruptured, and 

 labour pains have been few and not severe, the accident may be checked 

 or prevented by the administration of narcotics, and keeping the animal 

 in the most perfect quiet possible — alone in a darkened place, with 

 doors and windows closed, if convenient. The narcotic may be opium 

 (in the form of tincture if desirable), chloral hydrate, or chloroform. 

 Baint-Cyr recommends laudanum (one to two and a half drachms for 

 large animals) administered every half-hour or hour, in very small 

 enemata (not more than a wine-glassful at once), which he thinks pre- 

 ferable to draughts, but which may, nevertheless, be emploj^ed concur- 

 rently. Zundel prefers chloroform, which, he asserts, has yielded 

 extraordinary results in his hands in these cases, by suddenly arresting 



