216 PATHOLOGY OF PREGNANCY. 



venience, they only partially detach them, then collect and twist them 

 into a rope-like form, and leave this mass in the vagina ; so that should 

 the cervix contract, it may not be imprisoned in the uterus. Others tie 

 them together with a piece of tape, which is allowed to hang out of the 

 vagina. In a short time the placenta becomes loosened, and can then 

 be wholly removed. A few experienced obstetrists rely on internal 

 medication for the separation of the foetal placenta. Zundel, for 

 instance, has long and successfully administered powdered laurel berries 

 in an infusion of fennel, giving 1| ounces three times a day, with an 

 ounce of sodium bicarbonate in half a pint of fennel infusion. The 

 membranes always come away on the second or third day, particularly 

 if plenty of mucilaginous fluid has been given in the interval. Bychner 

 employs a decoction of the meal of linseed-cake in doses of about twelve 

 pints a day, when this result ensues about the ninth day. 



An animal which has aborted requires attention after the delivery of 

 the foetus. It should be kept clean, fed on gruel and easily-digested 

 food, though not in excess, kept from draughts of air, particularly in 

 cold weather, and otherwise nursed for some days. The complications 

 which sometimes accompany this accident will be alluded to hereafter, 

 as they are usually those of ordinary parturition. The animal should 

 not be allowed to become impregnated at the next oestrum, nor yet 

 perhaps at the succeeding period. 



Eelaxation of the genital passages in the Bitch generally follows 

 immersion in a warm bath (112° to 114° Fahr.) for a few minutes; it 

 must not be prolonged after the respiration becomes hurried or the 

 animal looks distressed ; and the creature should be well dried and 

 kept comfortable. 



Epizootic, Enzootic, or Infectious Abortion. 



"What has been named epizootic or enzootic abortion, but which we 

 have designated " infectious," differs in its etiology and some other 

 features from abortion occurring in isolated or sporadic cases, but more 

 particularly from its attacking all, or nearly all, the pregnant Cattle (for 

 it is more particularly observed in Cows, seldom in Sheep, and more 

 rarely among Mares) on a farm or pasture, in a village, over a wide 

 district, or even throughout an entire country, for perhaps a succession 

 of years — thus constituting itself a veritable scourge to agriculture ; and 

 more especially as it only too frequently appears to defy all precautions 

 to prevent its occurrence, and eludes the most careful search for its 

 exciting cause. 



Epizootics of abortion have been recorded from the earliest times ;^ 

 but it was only towards the end of the last century, when Flandrin, 

 Barrier, Pele, and other French veterinary authorities undertook their 

 investigation, that we discover the damage they inflicted. The observers 

 in this century are very numerous, but space forbids our alluding to 

 them ; it may be sufficient to state that Continental authorities are 

 agreed as to the destructiveness of this accident or disease, and, until 

 recently, as to the obscurity which attends its development. For 

 instance, Heuze mentions that in the Nievre (France) in 1869, the loss to 

 certain agriculturists amounted to 30,000, 40,000. and even 50,000 francs ; 



^ Those occurring up to A.D. 800 are described in my work on Animal Plagues. We 

 need only allude in this place to the human "abortus epidemicus " of B.C. 278 ; to that 

 observed in Germany in 1777, in which Cows and Pigs were involved ; and that at 

 Chalons in 1784, in which nearly all the Cows and Mares aborted. 



