736 
Abortion in Cattle. 
fatal practice of feeding pregnant ewes exclusively on unripe watery roota, 
and especially on unwholesome filth-laden shells. Secondly, pain and 
suffering caused by protracted " foot-rot." Thirdly, exposure to cold winds 
and heavy continuous rains. Fourthly, fatigue arising out of the deep and 
sticky state of the ground. 
On the subject of sporadic abortion, a paper in the Journal ' 
by Mr. Clement Stephenson, of Newcastle, a gentleman not 
only distinguished as a breeder of cattle, but as an eminent 
veterinary surgeon, whose observations are certainly deserving 
of the greatest respect, may be read with advantage. He 
treats the subject of common causes, but speaks of sympathy 
as one influence likely to cause an extension of the malady to 
a herd, and he touches the question of ergoted grasses. He 
says, however, that he has no personal experience in the matter, 
but he thinks it quite reasonable, knowing the action of ergot 
on the uterus at the time of parturition, to suspect at any rate 
that it may have some influence in causing contraction of the 
uterus at a period when the fcetus is not sufficiently developed 
to be capable of living apart from its mother. But he does 
not pay any attention to the contagion theory — in fact, at that 
time it had not assumed such prominence in the public mind as 
it has recently. 
Following Mr. Stephenson in the Journal we have a 
medical man, Mr. Johnson, of Kirkby Overblow, in Yorksliire, 
who adopted the theory of ergot as the cause of abortion. 
Mr. Johnson's view appears to be that the disease is decidedly 
the consequence of consumption of ergoted grasses in the 
majority of instances. One important remark he makes, viz.' : — 
So universal is the belief in its infective properties that, where I 
know the malady exists, or has been recently present, I have frequently 
had to use all my persuasive powers to assure such owners that "I 
am not a sort of detective sent by Government to prevent them spreading 
the disease by sending their j^roduce to market" before I can get any infor- 
mation on the subject. 
That is important testimony to the view held by agriculturists 
that the affection is most distinctly a contagious malady, and 
that view has now been sanctioned by the highest veterinary 
authorities. 
There is no doubt that the popular idea of the effect of 
ergoted grasses on the in-calf cow is based on the fact of 
its influence at the time of parturition. No evidence, however, 
has been advanced to prove that its action is manifested 
before that time, and experiments which have been made by 
' K.A.S.E. .Tournal, Vol. XXL. Vt. II., 2nd Series, 1885, p. 490. ' 
» R.A.S.E. Journal, Vol. XXII., Pt. II., 2nd Series, 1886, pp. 462, 463. 
