26 
cervix is of much importance. Sometimes a diseased uterus 
with an open and inflamed cervix is found to be pregnant, 
but then abortion is the sure outcome. 
By a careful examination, and considering all irregulari- 
ties which may complicate the second month of pregnancy. 
one will be able to recognize a pregnant animal with sufficient 
exactness. Broholm is justified in saying that it is easier to 
make the diagnosis of pregnancy than to describe it; he was 
the first to publish his technique. After examining more 
than a thousand cows he states that, so far he knows, he 
never mistook a three month pregnancy; according to him 
it is also possible to make a reliable diagnosis in the 7th-8th 
weeks of pregnancy. His chief symptom is the palpitating 
of a fluctuating oblong body in the asymmetrical horn. 
Martin Poulsen believes that it is possible to make a 
diagnosis of pregnancy in the 4th-5th weeks, and a safe 
diagnosis after the sixth week. He is also able to determine 
the age of the pregnancy, viz. whether the fetus is six, eight, 
ten or twelve weeks old. His indications also are the asym- 
metry of the horns and the fluctuation of the larger horn. 
He claims that in a pregnancy of six weeks the uterus is 
situated entirely in the pelvis and can be wholly encompassed 
with the hand. After eight weeks the uterus is said to 
protrude slightly over the symphysis and can still be clasped 
in the hand. It is quite incomprehensible to me that an 
expert like Poulsen has been so deceived as to the situation 
of the uterus, which depends so very much upon the varying 
bulk of the abdominal organs. The non-pregnant uterus is 
situated in the abdominal cavity proper, so that the cervix is 
just above the symphysis, and the pregnant uterus cannot be 
in the pelvis entirely if not forced in it by the intestines. 
The discrimination between the pregnant and the patho- 
logical uterus is no longer difficult after the middle of the 
third month, as then the size and the fluctuation of the organ 
are distinct characteristics. Besides, the cotyledons and the 
fetus proper can be felt then. 
