Detection of Pregnancy in the Mare and the Cow. 171 



ajofriculturist. The altered character of the female is regarded, 

 and very properly, as a circumstance of no little weight. She is 

 comparatively calm and quiet — her appetite returns, and she 

 regains her former condition, and her former habits. Five or six 

 weeks pass, and there is no outbreak of any kind. The owner 

 concludes, and he is not often wrong, that she is impregnated. 

 He, however, has had little to do with mares or with cows who 

 has not witnessed the return of the most furious oestrum, after a 

 much longer period of time has elapsed. I have known more 

 than three months pass in this delusive quietude, and then a 

 salaciousness worse than at first has indicated that no actual im- 

 pregnation had taken place. On the other hand, the oestrum, but 

 not with all its former fury, has returned, two, and three, and four 

 months after the connexion ; and yet, as the result finally shows, 

 impregnation had taken place at their first intercourse. 



Many circumstances may cause the owner to be anxious to 

 know the truth of the matter. He may wish to sell her, or he 

 may be unusually desirous to breed from her. Let the animal be 

 examined per vaginam. Let the hand be slowly and cautiously 

 passed up the vagina until it reaches the os uteri. Let there be no 

 attempt to penetrate farther. No information can be gained from 

 introducing the fingers into the uterus. It is simply wished to 

 ascertain the character of the os uteri. In its natural and unimpreg- 

 nated state it will be closed; but it will not be tightly or spasmo- 

 dically so, and the contraction of the mouth of the womb will form 

 a kind of cup, with the base towards that viscus. If she is im- 

 pregnated the entrance to the uterus will be more firmly closed, 

 and the protrusion will be towards the vagina. This is the only 

 exploration per vaginam which I would allow, — it is easily made, 

 and it will be satisfactory. If an exploration of this kind is 

 attempted when half or more than half of the period of preg- 

 nancy has passed, it is not at all unlikely that so much irritation of 

 the parts will ensue as to cause the expulsion of the foetus. 



I will suppose that two months have passed since the supposed 

 impregnation. The foetus is still remaining in the pelvic cavity. The 

 heart has begun to beat and the blood to circulate through its little 

 veins. It will be situated immediately below" the rectum. I introduce 

 my hand into that intestine. I have not occasion to pass it very 

 far up. I feel the little substance — for it then is small in pro- 

 portion to its after growth. I feel it under my hand. I am 

 certain that I am pressing upon the uterus and its contents. I 

 cannot perhaps detect the pulsation of the embryo ; but if I had 

 delayed my examination until the foetus was three months old, I 

 should have assurance that it was there by its now increased bulk^ 

 while the pulsation of its heart w^ould tell me that it was living. 



For two months from this period in the cow^ and for three in 



