118 BOVINE OBSTETEICS 



last year, 1884^1885, bo cows aborted; Of the calves born at 

 the regular time fourteen out of thirty-two died one or two 

 days after birth with diarrhoea. According to Nocard, this 

 diarrhoea was produced by the same agent which was the cause 

 of death in those calves dying immediately after a period of 

 pregnancy of seven to eight months. 



Etiology. — Already the above shows plainly that enzootic 

 abortion is an infectious disease. The manner in which it 

 occurs and spreads, as also the experiments, prove it conclu- 

 sively. Braiier already detected cocci in the vaginal discharge 

 of cows which had aborted and in the foetal water. Franck 

 thought that the micrococci present in the inodorous mucus of 

 the vagina represent the infectious material. 



Nocard made exhaustive experiments in regard to the 

 setiology of infectious abortion. 



In the first place, it was his intention to answer the follow- 

 ing questions : (1) Is infectious abortion a disease common to 

 the pregnant cow ? (2) Is it a disease of the genital organs of 

 the mother ? (3) Is it a disease of the foetus and its envelopes ? 

 In the first two instances the foetus might play a passive role. 



He dissected cows which had just aborted, primiparse 

 which were about to abort, and cows which aborted the pre- 

 ceding year and had not conceived since that time, although 

 i-epeatedly served. In microscopical examinations of the 

 uterine milk, Nocard foand, besides epithelial cells and leuco- 

 cytes, a great number of short bacilli isolated or in pairs ; in 

 the puriform mass, which represents itself as a dirty-whitish 

 fluid on the lower surface of the cotyledon, cocci, either 

 isolated or in chains of 3, 4, 5. 



In the uterine milk bacilli were more numerous than cocci. 

 The liquid attached to the uterine mucosa contained both in 

 equal quantity. When inoculating bouillon, the uterine milk 

 furnished pure cultures of short, thick, straight bacilli in 

 twenty-four hours. Bouillon inoculated with the puriform 

 mass gave a mixed culture of micrococci and bacilli. The 

 media remained sterile when inoculated with milk and blood. 

 The second group of the experiments consisted of inoculating 



