ABORTION AND PREMATURE BIRTH. 253 



loses its round shape and drops; if the animal is in milk, the 

 mammae 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 become enlarged and turgid; the vulva is 

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

 sanguinolent and if the foetus is dead more or less foetid fluid, ac- 

 cording to the circumstances. Then follow sj'mptoms analogous 

 to those which characterize normal parturition; the uterus begins 

 to contract, and the expiratory muscles act simultaneously with it; 

 the expulsive efforts or ' labor pains ' acting more or less ener- 

 getically and continuously according to the suddenness of the 

 abortion and the strength and health of the animal. The first re- 

 sult of this straining is the evacuation of the bladder and rectum; 

 the rext is the dilatation of the os uteri and protrusion of the mem- 

 branes into the vagina, then through the vulva where they ap- 

 pear 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 

 human intervention to bring it to a successful termination. In 

 other instances 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 tranquility, 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. ' ' 



From a study of this graphic description of the circumstances 

 arising out of and connected with a possible or actually realized 

 abortion it will be possible, if discovered sufficiently early, to 

 make an attempt to avert the fulfillment of the mishap involving 

 such serious pecuniary loss; but before offering suggestions of a 

 remedial character for the attainment of this object, we may just 

 mention in passing that certain conditions of the uterus and its 

 appendages may exist before pregnancy which are sufficiently 

 serious to produce abortion and even to prevent conception and 

 thus account for barrenness; horsemen are, as a rule, more in- 

 clined to attribute barrenness to the fault of the stallion than to the 



