172 Detection of Pregnancy in the Mare and the Cow. 



the mare, I should have no other indication of the presence of the 

 foetus, nor of its life and growth, except from the gradual en- 

 largement of the abdomen of the mother ; and, by that time, the 

 little one would have increased in size and strength, and would 

 have begun to take occasional exercise in its first domicile, and 

 then would become the more evident, but not more satisfactory 

 proof of the life of the foetus — its motion strong enough to be seen 

 through the integument. 



I might, perhaps, wish to give this assurance of the life of the 

 foetus to some curious spectator, or to some intended purchaser. 

 I would not gallop the mare in order to effect this : I would not 

 so far disturb her or the young animal that she bore within her. 

 Much less would I give her cold water to drink, and which she 

 usually would drink until she annoyed the foetus, and the unborn 

 animal told us how much we annoyed him by endeavouring to 

 shift his quarters and get away from the action of the cold. I 

 would not run the hazard of giving her the colic, and perhaps 

 destroying him or her by this unscientific and somewhat cruel 

 method of exploration ; but 1 probably should give a tap or two 

 on the outer wall of his dwelling, just sutEcient to rouse him from 

 his slumbers, and induce him to express his anger at the annoy- 

 ance by a tolerably distinct plunge or kick. 



Most certainly, if it was a cow that I was exhibiting, I would 

 not give, nor would I suffer any one else to give those terrible 

 punches in the right flank which I have no doubt are the cause 

 of much unsuspected injury, and, occasionally at least, connected 

 with, or the origin of, a difficult, or a fatal parturition. 



I may here observe that the foetus of the mare from the be- 

 ginning occupies nearly the centre of the belly. In the early 

 stage Mr. Mogford generally found it '^'^ lying across the pelvic 

 cavity, the spine being immediately under — the head on the left 

 side, and the tail on the right side." In the latter portion of its 

 foetal state its motions are pretty equally distributed on either side, 

 and the beating of the foetal heart is most plainly heard at the 

 very base of the abdomen. The foetus of the cow is huddled up 

 on the right side of the belly. There its motions are most seen, 

 and the beatings of its heart best heard. The enormous paunch, 

 lying principally on the left side, presses every other viscus, and 

 the uterus among the rest, into the right flank. This also ex- 

 plains a circumstance familiar to every breeder. If the cow 

 should happen to carry tVi^ins they are crowded together in the 

 left flank, and one seems absolutely to lie upon the other. When- 

 ever the farmer notices the kicking of the foetus high up in the 

 flank, he at once calculates on twins. 



To return from this digression. If half the period, or more, of 

 utero-gestation had passed, and I could not get the little stranger to 



