468 Veterinary Obstetrics 



which was suckling a foal, the latter died from superpurgation as 

 the result of partaking of too great an amount of aloes in the milk 

 of its mother. Harms had warned the owner against permit- 

 ting the foal to suck the mare, but he milked her and fed the 

 milk to the foal. 



Foods of various kinds have been accused of producing abor- 

 tion, but the basis for the charge is not very clear. It is ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to determine the* facts in these allegations, be- 

 cause many of them go back to a period when the infectiousness of 

 diseases in general was doubted and when various influences 

 were invoked to account for the prevalence of a disease. In 

 fact, that era of doubt has not yet wholly disappeared and per- 

 haps never will. We find among laymen a strong tendency to 

 doubt the infectiousness of abortion. Instead thej' invoke vari- 

 ous theories to account for the disease. Even among veterinari- 

 ans, we find doubters "and skeptics in relation to infectious dis- 

 eases, who must find some explanation for the appearance of the 

 disease, other than infection. In the literature of earlier days, 

 we find prominent mention of the injurious effects upon the 

 fetus of fodder which has been more or less spoiled by rust or 

 moulds of various kinds, and especially those fodders which 

 have been affected with smut and ergot. These charges cannot 

 well be traced to a definite and reliable source. Harms relates 

 that he has seen ergot given to pregnant cows in very large 

 quantities, without effect, and that in one case he killed a preg- 

 nant goat with ergot without producing any signs of abortion. 

 We have been unable to find any definite records, in veterinary 

 literature, where ergot or any other drug has caused abortion 

 without first seriously jeopardizing the life of the mother. 



We believe, therefore, that, while there may occasionally oc- 

 cur an abortion from the improper feeding of the pregnant ani- 

 mal, the losses from this cause have been greatly exaggerated 

 and are not especially important. We would not be understood, 

 however, as suggesting carelessness in the feeding of pregnant 

 animals, but merely as insisting that the safety of the mother 

 and fetus are bound up together in so far as diet is concerned 

 and that whatever food may be healthful for the one is compara- 

 tively safe for the other. It is needless to advise against the 

 use of mouldy, rusty or ergotized food for pregnant females, 



