478 
Abortion in Cows. 
7. Premonitory symptoms may be practically absent, or may 
be present fully three weeks prior to the abortion. 
8. Cows aborting do not give the quantity of milk which they 
would otherwise do by one-third to one-half. 
9. They do not fatten for some two or three months after such 
an occurrence. 
10. Isolation has had no appreciable effect in preventing the 
extension of this disease. 
11. Ergot was found on every farm where abortions had 
recently taken place, when sought for at a time that it would be 
visible if present. 
12. Ergot could not be found when specially sought for on 
Farm 6, where the malady under consideration was not present. 
13. Four or five only out of the 300 cases had no opportunity 
of partaking of hay or grass within a month of aborting. 
14. Removal from known ergotised fields to aftermath, and to 
sheds (entirely) has, on several occasions, cut short the disease. 
15. In all the serious outbreaks which took place whilst the 
cattle were entirely indoors, some of the hay then consumed 
was made late. 
16. The only instances in the winter of 1885 and 1886 where 
serious outbreaks occurred, both the farmers had mown late the 
surplus grass of a pasture. 
17. Ergot has been found in late-made hay.* 
From these facts I cannot absolutely prove ergot to be the 
cause of this malady, but the circumstantial evidence in favour 
of it is so strong, that, with my own personal knowledge of its 
specific action on the uterus, it leaves no doubt on my mind that 
this fungus has been the absolute cause of the vast majority of 
these 300 cases of abortion. The only way satisfactorily to place 
the matter beyond doubt, is by intentionally producing abortion 
in a certain number of animals, they being in company with 
others, and all being placed under precisely similar circum- 
stances, with the exception of the administration of ergot to a 
certain number. 
Mr. Toope informs me that he has in several instances 
brought about abortion in bitches by subcutaneous injections 
of a preparation of this substance ; but for the absolute proof 
and demonstration to those unacquainted with its powers, and 
also for more precise information on the subject, the under- 
mentioned, or some similar experiment, is urgently needed, as, 
so far as I know, the actual production of this malady has never 
been intentionally brought about by administering this sub- 
* Throe times by myself, ami once by Mr. Toope. 
