162 DISEASES OF OATTXE. 



or tapeworms in the bowels, from flatworms (flukes, trematodes) in the 

 liver, from worms in the lungs, from dark, damp, unhealthy build- 

 ings, etc. In some such cases the nourishment is so deficient that the 

 fetus dies in the womb *and is expelled in consequence. Excessive 

 loss of blood, attended as it usually is by shock, becomes a direct 

 cause of abortion. 



Acute inflammations of important organs are notorious causes of 

 abortion, and in most contagious fevers (lung plague, rinderpest, 

 foot-and-mouth disease) it is a common result. Affections of the chest 

 which prevent due aeration of the blood induce contractions of the 

 womb, as shown experimentally by Brown-Sequard. Pregnant women 

 suffocated in smoke aborted in many cases. (Retoul.) 



Chronic diseases of the abdominal organs are fertile sources of abor- 

 tion, especially those that cause bloating (tympany of the first stom- 

 ach) or diarrhea, or the diseases of the ovaries, kidneys, or bladder. 

 The presence of gravel, or stone, in the kidneys, bladder, or urinary 

 canals is an especial predisposing or even an exciting cause in mag- 

 nesian limestone districts and in winter. The presence of tubercles 

 in the ovaries, the broad ligaments of the womb, and even on the 

 outer surface of the womb itself, must be added as efficient causes. 



Fatty degeneration of the heart, a common disease in old cows of 

 improved beef breeds, lessens the circulation in the placenta (and 

 fetus) and, arresting nutrition, may cause abortion. 



Indigestions of all kinds are especially dangerous, as they are usu- 

 ally associated with overdistention of the first stomach (paunch) with 

 gas. As this stomach lies directly beneath and to the left side of the 

 womb, any disorder, and above all an excessive distention of that 

 organ, presses on or affects the womb and its contents dangerously. It 

 further causes contractions of the womb by preventing aeration of the 

 blood. Hence all that tends to indigestion is to be carefully guarded 

 against. Privation of water, which hinders rumination and digestion ; 

 ice-cold water, which rouses the womb to contraction and the calf to 

 vigorous movement; green, succulent grass, to which the cow has been 

 unaccustomed; clover which has just been wet with a slight shower; 

 all green food, roots, potatoes, apples, pumpkins that are frozen or 

 have been, or that are simply covered with hoar frost; food that has 

 been grown in wet seasons or that has been badly harvested; growing 

 corn, oats, etc., if the animal is unused to them; a too dry food or a 

 too stimulating food (wheat bran, pease, maize, and cotton seed) fed 

 too lavishly may, any one of them, induce abortion. The dry and 

 stimulating foods last named bring on constipation with straining, 

 and also elevated temperature of the body, which, in itself, endangers 

 the life of the fetus. 



Putrid, stagnant water is hurtful both to digestion and the fetus, 

 and abortions in cows have been repeatedly traced to this source and 



