Abortion in Cows. 
469 
three weeks, whilst many made such poor bags that it was 
useless to offer them for sale. 
Fair opportunities were thus given of disseminating an 
infectious disease, as cows which had remained for days in close 
company with diseased animals, in sheds which would be 
highly charged with infection (if any could be), were, with 
animals which had actually aborted, sold indiscriminately. 
I know many of their customers, but I never heard of any 
animals sold by them being accused of conveying infection to 
others. Nor have they. 
Having now considered the facts observed in connection with 
this malady, and compared them with what we might naturally 
do in an infectious disease, I cannot think any one, if he be at 
all conversant with diseases of an infectious nature, can conclude 
that the one under consideration is of that character. 
SympatJiy. — By many writers this is alleged to be a frequent 
cause of subsequent abortions after one has taken place in a 
herd from any cause. If this allegation be true (keeping in- 
fection quite distinct from sympathy), whatsoever it may be 
which causes the animal to abort, must be conveyed to its brain 
by means of the special nerves of sight, hearing, or smelling. 
I suppose all will admit that the visible and auditory accom- 
paniments of a cow in the act of calving are quite as intense 
when this function is performed at full time as when it takes 
place prematurely. If such be admitted, we must exclude the 
first two special senses, sight and hearing, from being con- 
cerned in the production of this malady, or, on the occasion of a 
cow calving at full time in the presence of in-calvers, we should 
frequently have abortions quickly follow — which we do not have. 
The sense of smell alone remains by which an animal can 
thus be affected. To influence this, we must have an effluvium 
proceeding from an aborting animal either of an entirely dif- 
ferent character to that arising from one calving at full time, or 
the same, highly intensified. Whichever it may be, it must be 
of such a character as to produce a shock or impression on the 
nervous system of the animal sufficiently powerful to cause her 
to abort. Without going into the subject of such animals' 
greater power of smell than we possess, I will confine myself to 
what we can perceive. Occasionally a calf is prematurely 
expelled in a putrid condition ; but in the subjects of these 
enquiries this is quite the exception. As a rule, the smell or 
effluvium perceptible to us from a cow aborting is indistinguish- 
able from that accompanying delivery at full time. 
Making due allowance for the alleged increased sensitiveness 
to smell in an in-calver, and admitting the possibility of a 
sufficiently powerful effluvium to be sometimes present in con- 
