DISEASES OP THE GENERATIVE' ORGANS. 167 



In advanced pregnancy abortion is largely the counterpart of par- 

 turition, so that a special description is superfluous. The important 

 thing is to distinguish the early symptoms from , those of other dis- 

 eases, so that the tendency may be arrested and the animal carried 

 to full time if possible. A cow is dull, sluggish, separate from the 

 herd, chewing the cud languidly, or there may be frequent lying down 

 and rising, uneasy movements of the hind feet or of the tail, and 

 slightly accelerated pulse and breathing, and dry muzzle. The im- 

 portant thing is not to confound it with digestive or urinary disor- 

 der, but in a pregnant cow to examine at once for any increase of 

 mucus in the vagina, or for blood or liquid there or on the root of the 

 tail; for any enlargement, firmness, or tenderness of the udder; or in 

 dry cows examine for milk; and above all for any slight straining 

 suggestive of labor pains. 



In many cases the membranes are discharged with the fetus; in 

 others, in advanced pregnancy, they fail to come away, and remain 

 hanging from the vulva, putrefying and falling piecemeal, finally 

 resulting in a fetid discharge from the womb. According to the size 

 of the herd, contagious abortions will follow one another at intervals 

 of one to four or more weeks, in the order of their infection or of the 

 recurrence of the period of activity of the womb which corresponds 

 to the occurrence of heat. 



Prevention. — Weakness and bloodlessness are to be obviated by 

 generous feeding, and especially in aliments (wheat bran, rape cake, 

 cotton seed, oats, barley, beans, pease, etc.), rich in earthy salts, 

 which will also serve to correct the morbid appetite. This will also 

 regenerate the exhausted soil if the manure is returned to it. In the 

 same way the application of ground bones or phosphates will correct 

 the evil, acting in this case through the soil first and raising better 

 food for the stock. The ravages of worms are to be obviated by 

 avoiding infested pastures, ponds, streams, shallow wells, or those 

 receiving any surface leakage from land where stock go, and by feed- 

 ing salt at will, as this agent is destructive to most young worms. 



The tendency to urinary calculi in winter is avoided by a succulent 

 diet (ensilage, steamed food, roots, pumpkins, apples, potatoes, slops), 

 and bythe avoidance of the special causes named under "Gravel." 

 (See p. 128.) Furnishing water inside the barn in winter in place of 

 driving once a day to take their fill of ice-cold water will obviate a 

 common evil. Putrid and stagnant waters are to be avoided. Sud- 

 den changes of food are always reprehensible, but much more so in 

 the pregnant animal. Let the change be gradual. Carefully avoid 

 the use of spoiled or unwholesome food. 



In case of prevalence of ergot in a pasture it should be kept eaten 

 down or cut down with a mower so that no portion runs to seed. 

 (See PI. V. ) In case of a meadow the grass must be cut early before 

 the seeds have filled. The most dangerous time appears to be between 



