Abortion in Cattle. 
737 
feecJiug in-caif heifers ou ergot have generally failed. At the 
, Roval Veterinary College seven in-calf heifers were fed on grass 
in which ergot was abundant, and when the supply failed ergot 
was mised with their food, but no effect was ])roduced. Very 
I serious consequences have followed the consumption of rye-bi'ead 
contaminated with ergot, and numerous persons have been 
, fatally poisoned, but abortion was not among the characteristic 
I signs of ergotism in the human being. Among cattle, severe 
t outbreaks of ergotism in Kansas occurred some years ago, and 
i great fatality was occasioned, but cases of abortion were extremely 
' rare. Extensive outbreaks of abortion have occurred among 
cattle at a season of the year when ergot does not exist, and 
I the worst that can be urged against ergoted fodder is that it 
I may occasionally act as an irritant poison and cause abortion in 
( the same way as other accidental causes may induce it from 
I time to time. 
Next there is a very valuable paper by M. Xocard, whose 
reputation is in itself a sufficient guarantee of the importance of 
his observations. He was employed by the French Government 
; to make an inquiry respecting abortion which had prevailed 
I amongst the Nivernais breed for many years. Indeed, at the 
time that M. Xocard commenced the inquiry, it was thought that 
I the whole breed would be extinguished. 
Difierent views were held with regard to the disease among 
the cows. Some experts decided that it was dependent upon 
crossing with the Durham (or Shorthorn) breed, others that it 
was due to the remarkable precocity of development of this 
animal and its tendency to lay on fat, and it was also referred 
by a number of veterinary surgeons to ergoted grasses. M. 
Nocard deals with all these suggestions, and produces evidence 
to show that they are entirely insufficient to explain the occur- 
rence of the disease. 
In regard to the presence of abortion in a herd, M. Xocard 
evidently agrees with M. Bouley when he says that, as a general 
rule, abortion appears as the ordinary result of the introduction 
of a pregnant cow newly bought. If this cow aborts, some of the 
other cows in the shed are certain to follow the example. He 
does not say at what distance of time, but he states as a well- 
known fact that one case is followed by another. He refers further 
on to those cases in which abortion occurs after such a late period 
that the foetus survives for a few days, and on this point he 
makes a most important remark : — 
As to the calf that has ahorted, it is generally dead at the moment of 
abortion. Sometimes, however, it happens that the animals are expelled alive, 
perfectly well formed and vigorous to all appearance. Nevertheless, in four 
VOL. II. T. S.— 8 3 C 
