72 



On Abortion in Cows. 



the periods of recurring^ heat if the animal were not pregnant. 

 Thus a cow will often abort at the end of the third, sixth, ninth, 

 twelfth week, and so on ; but except from accidental causes, she 

 does not so frequently abort in the intermediate periods. 



If abortion take place within two or three months of the natural 

 period of gestation, it is denoted by symptoms which, although 

 modified, resemble those indicating ordinary parturition. If it 

 occur before the expiration of the third month, the system of the 

 cow will not suffer much derangement ; but if it happen at such 

 an advanced stage of gestation as the sixth or seventh month, it is 

 productive of serious injury, and frequently of great danger to the 

 constitution and even life of the parent. 



Before every act of abortion, and at whatever period it occurs, 

 except perhaps before the third or fourth week of gestation, there 

 is a discharge of brown glairy fluid and mucus from the organs 

 of generation. If the embryo about to be expelled be very small, 

 this discharge may be so limited in quantity as entirely to escape 

 ordinary notice, and on that account it is highly important to be 

 acquainted with the appearances which it presents. At first it 

 is brown in colour, and of sufficiently thick consistence to hang 

 in slimy strings from the vulva. Afterwards, in consequence of 

 containing a quantity of blood, and possibly of liquor amnii, it 

 becomes thinner and redder in colour. The discharge is caused 

 by a breach of the natural connections between the foetal mem- 

 branes and uterus, in consequence of which the fluid contents of 

 these organs, after escaping into the uterine cavity, are thence 

 expelled. During pregnancy almost all cows have other occa- 

 sional discharges from the organs of generation, which must be 

 distinguished from that just mentioned, inasmuch as their appear- 

 ances are perfectly consistent with health. They consist of a 

 thick, colourless, transparent, and almost inodorous secretion, some- 

 times very copiously supplied by certain parts of the vagina and 

 uterus in the vicinity of the os uteri, and by their consistence and 

 tenacity assist in retaining this organ in a closed condition. 



If the cow about to cast calf be in pasture, she may seek to be 

 alone, but on the whole she is not so secluded in her habits as 

 when at the full time of gestation. Cows in the same stock will 

 also smell at her, as though some peculiar odour attracted their 

 notice. If advanced five or six months in gestation, there is a 

 sudden and slight enlargement of the udder ; and if she be yield- 

 ing milk at the time, it will be yellower in colour and greater 

 m quantity than before. The external organs of generation be- 

 come enlarged and loose in appearance ; the ligaments which 

 connect the sacrum (rump-bone) with the bones on each side 

 (ischia) are relaxed, but not nearly to the same extent as before 

 healthy parturition. In young animals pregnant for the first time. 



