226 PATHOLOGY OF PREUNAXCY. 



a solution of carbolic acid (1 to 100 of water) was to be added. The 

 vagina and uterus were also to be cleansed by injections of clean tepid 

 water, and the solution just mentioned injected. These injections 

 were to be made once a day for two or three days. 4. The attendant 

 on these Mares w^as to thoroughly disinfect his hands, and, if possible, 

 change his clothing before he went near other pregnant Mares. 

 5. After two or three weeks of treatment, the Mares might be allowed 

 to be put to the Stallions. 6. Foals affected with joint-disease (this 

 being considered of the same nature as that which led to abortion, and 

 capable of producing that accident) were to be destroyed and their 

 bodies burnt. 7. If, however, the foal were suffered to live, it was to 

 be separated from pregnant Mares before the swellings had suppurated 

 or become sores. 8. All Mares dams of Foals with affected joints, were 

 to undergo the same antiseptic treatment as if they had aborted, if not 

 doing well. 9. Mares that had aborted and done well, were not to be 

 allowed to the Stallion earlier than two or three weeks after the accident. 



With regard to Ewes, similar curative and preventive measures are 

 to be adopted. Those recommended by Labat at the outbreak of abor- 

 tion among these animals in France in 1888, were perfectly successful. 

 There had never been such an occurrence among the flock until this 

 one, when a large number aborted without any assignable cause. The 

 following precautions were recommended by him : 1. Evacuate the 

 sheepfold. 2. Separate the pregnant Ewes from those which have 

 aborted. 3. Place the pregnant Ewes in a clean, well-ventilated place. 

 4. Every week remove the dung, clean the floor, walls, and racks 

 with boiling potash-water. 5. Every Ewe which aborts is to be imme- 

 diately removed from the healthy to the second group (those which had 

 already aborted), and complete delivery if it is incomplete ; replace 

 soiled litter, the foetus and membranes to be covered with lime and 

 then buried in an out-of-the-way place. 6. Every morning sponge the 

 vulva, anus, perinaeum, and tail of the Ewes with a solution of corro- 

 sive sublimate (1 gramme to 100 grammes of alcohol and 2 litres of 

 water). 7. Feed on good food and avoid chills. 



Vaginal injections were not recommended for the pregnant Ewes, for 

 fear of causing abortion if badly given. Only four abortions occurred 

 within four days after these measures were adopted. The treatment 

 was continued for eighteen days, and the pregnant Ewes subsequently 

 gave birth to their Lambs at the usual time. The expense of the 

 measures was trifling, and carrying them out caused little trouble, two 

 men only having been employed for an hour every morning. 



Should abortion be traced to the food — ergotised or otherwise 

 damaged fodder, or water, of course the use of this must, if possible, 

 be prohibited, and a change resorted to. If the pasture grasses are 

 ergotised, then the pregnant animals, as a matter of precaution, should 

 be removed from them, and placed in more favourable conditions with 

 regard to food. It may be remarked that ergotised or mouldy dry 

 forage may be rendered safe for consumption by scalding it with boiling 

 water or steam, or pickling it in salt. 



It should not be forgotten that, whether abortion be due to casual 

 causes or to a virulent micro-organism, and whenever or wherever the 

 accident occurs — whether at pasture, in strawyard, or in shed— the 

 greatest possible care should be taken to isolate the animal, if it is with 

 pregnant creatures of the same species, and to bury everything — foetus, 

 membranes, etc , as well as to destroy all traces of discharges. 



