734 
Abortion in Cattle. 
As to the symptoms of abortion, Mr. Barlow remarks tliat 
in many cases there are no warning symptoms. A little mass 
of decomposed matter is found in the shed or field, and it is 
known that the cow has slipped her calf. In certain instances, 
however, there are premonitory signs, which bear a distinct re- 
semblance to those which occur in ordinary parturition, in the 
swelling of the external parts and indications of activity in the 
udder, and a glairy discharge from the generative organs. 
Before every act of abDrtion, and at whatever period it occurs, except 
perhaps before the third or fourth week of gestation, there is a discharge of. 
brown glairy flaid and mucus from the organs of generation. 
This discharge has been made the subject of experimental 
inquiry, and the conclusion is becoming firmly established that 
in that discharge is contained the virus which is concerned in 
the propagation of the disease. 
M. Bouley, for many years the Director-General of the 
veterinary schools in France, was a most distinguished scientific 
observer, and in his Dictionary of Veterinary Medicine, published 
in 1863 — i.e., twelve years after ^Mr. Barlow wrote his paper 
he refers to the fact of abortion beginning with the introduction 
of a new cow — a very significant statement. He notes, in the 
course of his description, all the various common causes which 
give rise to abortion, and among these causes he speaks of imi- 
tation, which is a characteristic term based on a recognition of 
the fact that when abortion takes place in a herd, the cows all 
round will become extremely excited, will rush to the spot 
where the foetus and membranes are lying, will snifi" at them, 
and will rush away again in a frantic state. It is a matter of 
positive certainty that after this performance on their part a 
considerable number of them will abort. 
M. Boulev names the other causes as mechanical various 
kinds of food, the use of powerful medicines, fear, and constitu- 
tional tendency. For the term constitutional tendency, " here- 
ditary " would be the modern equivalent. 
From M. Bouley we may pass on to Dr. George Fleming, 
who in 1878 published a very valuable work on veterinary 
obstetrics, which included all that bad been written and doubt- 
less all that was known on the subject up to that date. 
Dr. Fleming quotes from Continental experts their different 
views as to the causes of epizootic abortion, and points out that 
some of them refer it to the action of particular plants. Thus, 
they consider that rue, rye, savin, and ergoted grasses are 
commonly concerned in the production of abortion on a suffi- 
ciently large scale to merit the title of epizootic. Dr. Fleming 
