ACCIDEXTS OF PREGNANCY. 210 



secutive years. It is not always the pregnant Cows next to the one 

 which has aborted that are first seized, but rather animals some 

 distance from it. 



Again, when pregnant Cows which were living in a place where the 

 disease had not existed, have been introduced into a stable where it 

 prevails, those that are at the end of gestation calve regularly and 

 normally soon after arrival ; but if they are a certain time in the 

 infected stable before this period is reached, they abort like the others. 



So that the presence of an infecting element, if not absolutely proved, 

 is at least admissible, after the very numerous observations of the most 

 competent veterinarians — especially of Uarreau. Cruzcl, Felizct, Bouley, 

 Lafosse, Nocard, and others, in France; and Rueff, Haubner, Franck, 

 Rolotf, and many more, in Germany. The insalubrity and bad hygiene 

 of cowsheds and stables appear to have no influence in the patho- 

 genesis of the accident, as it appears quite as severely and readily in 

 those which are well ventilated and cleansed as in those in the opposite 

 conditions ; in fact, nothing can so well explain the occurrence of par- 

 ticular outbreaks of epizootic or enzootic abortion as the presence of 

 a contagium or a miasmatic iufcctioii. 



The existence of a contagium would appear to have been proved by the 

 result of an experiment performed by Franck, of the ^lunich Veterinary 

 School, some years ago. It had been established by microscopical investi- 

 gation, that on the lining membrane of the vagina and vulva, there is 

 constantly found — as on the buccal mucous membrane — a minute 

 fungus mixed with the mucus, in every respect similar to the Lcptothrix 

 biiccalis, which, according to Hallier, is only an allotropic condition 

 of the ordinary moulds — such as the Penicillium (jlaucum or Aspergillus 

 — being, in fact, a kind of bacillus. Towards the period of parturition 

 these bodies become extraordinarily abundant, and they appear to 

 concur in the decomposition of the fwtal membranes and their expul- 

 sion ; when the membranes are retained and putrefy in the uterus, 

 they are extremely numerous, as are the micrococci. Franck showed 

 that, by smearing the vaginal canal of a pregnant animal to a certain 

 depth with the matter from the expelled membranes of one which had 

 been delivered, abortion can be induced. 



So that, as Zundel asserted, it is sufiicicnt to introduce into the 

 vagina micrococci or bacteria, which will multiply there, and, penetrat- 

 ing to the uterus, commence their work of decomposition, to produce 

 abortion. 



Roloff had also ascertained that abortion is due to something which 

 finds admission to the uterus by the vagina ; that a certain amount 

 of redness and tumefaction of the lining membrane of the latter always 

 precedes this accident ; and that this virulifcrous or miasmatic matter 

 is found on the articles soiled by the delivery of a Cow which has 

 aborted, as well as in the drains of the stable, on the litter, etc. 



Brauer inoculated Cows which were pregnant from five to seven 

 months with this infective material, and in twelve, fourteen, fifteen, 

 and twenty-one days after the operation they aborted. 



It must be remarked, however, that such views were not accepted 

 for a considerable time by a large portion of the veterinary profession, 

 who endeavoured to explain the occurrence of this kind of abortion 

 by asserting that when one animal got rid of its fcctus prematurely 

 others did so through sympathy or imitation — a very old notion indeed, 

 and one which will not bear examination. Cows do not abort when 



