464 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



general rules of bacterial invasion, should afford less re- 

 sistance. 



The histology of apical endometritis has not been studied. 

 The bacteriology has had almost no attention. My col- 

 leagues, Carpenter and Hagan, have obtained chiefly strep- 

 tococci of the viridans type and paracolon organisms. 



The date of invasion of the cornual apices is apparently 

 pre-conceptional. The infection probably enters frequently 

 from the oviducts. Evidently it may also proceed from the 

 cervix. Its significance is not fully understood. When as 

 virulent as shown in Plate III, it must have serious peril 

 for the health of the embryo and apparently endangers the 

 uterus itself. The chief danger to the embryo is the inva- 

 sion of the fetal fluids through the necrotic area. Since 

 the allantoic fluid regularly extends into the necrotic tips, 

 its contamination is unavoidable. Once the infection has 

 invaded the allantoic fluid, it may grow through the amnion 

 and, reaching the amniotic fluid, be swallowed by the em- 

 bryo during its constant physiologic process of swallowing 

 its amniotic fluid. It is not necessary that bacteria shall 

 penetrate the amnion in order to reach the amniotic fluid. 

 They may instead be borne in the fluid, through the urethra, 

 bladder and urachus, to the amniotic fluid, and eventually 

 be swallowed. 



Apical endometritis of pregnancy, since it is not clini- 

 cally diagnosable, offers no field for therapeutic effort. So 

 far as known, its prevention is dependent upon the funda- 

 mental principle that the health of an embryo is primarily 

 dependent upon the soundness of the genital organs of both 

 parents at the time of coitus. 



B. Diffuse Endometritis of Pregnancy. The 

 " Dystocia of Contagious Abortion " 



There is observed in the abattoir an endometritis of the 

 pregnant uterus in which the disease processes are quite 

 evenly diffused throughout the entire uterine cavity. Some- 

 times the endometrium is swollen and edematous and its 

 vessels are visibly engorged. A yellowish, yellowish-brown, 



