442 BOVINE PATHOLOGY. 



and be felt. About this time, too, careful examination 

 will detect foetal movements, and later these can be per- 

 ceived without manipulation. Exploration per rectum or 

 per vaginam is sometimes resorted to as a means of con- 

 firming the diagnosis, and it is said that the beats of the 

 foetal heart may be detected by auscultation in front of 

 the symphysis pubis. 



Abortion occurs very frequently, due to the nature of 

 the food and other influences. It must be distinguished 

 artifically from premature birth in which the foetus is 

 able to live for a longer or shorter time after expulsion. 

 Fleming estimates all cases as abortions which take place 

 thirty-five days before the normal period of from nine to 

 ten months. He quotes the valuable observations of 

 Earl Spencer, that no calf can be born alive before the 

 220th nor after the 313th day, and that it is im- 

 possible to rear those born before the 242nd day. This 

 accident is termed slinking or slipping the calf, and is 

 sometimes sporadic, often epizootic or enzootic. It varies 

 in importance with the stage of pregnancy in which it 

 occurs. Thus, in early stages it may cause no apparent 

 inconvenience, later it is accompanied by some fever, a 

 yellowish-red discharge from the vagina, and a consider- 

 able amount of uneasiness, and still later, there are all 

 the ordinary signs of parturition. It is liable to be brought 

 on by too frequently taking the bull, by various kinds of 

 injuries, by bad feeding, or the presence of fungi, such as 

 ergot or ustilago (rust) on the food, and by excessive expo- 

 sure to cold. It often results from debility. It generally 

 takes place in pregnant animals affected with blood disease, 

 is common in cases of hernia, and may be due to nervous 

 influence. Owing to the latter condition, if one cow 

 abort, many others in the same shed will do so too. By 

 some, however, these enzootics of abortion are attributed to 

 the influence of certain prevalent bacterian organisms 

 which are developed in the foetal membranes and on the 

 vaginal mucous surface, and ordinarily cause a breaking 

 down of the foetal coverings. Consequently, if some of 

 the latter be left about it may prove most prejudicial, and 



