GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE AND ABORTION IN CATTLE. 55 
all cows should be regarded as suspicious and all newborn calves 
treated as being in danger of exposure to the infection of any or all 
of these dairy plagues. 
While the prospect for preventing abortion (and sterility) appears 
quite feasible, in the present state of our knowledge we can lay down 
no reliable means for wholly avoiding the infection of the granular 
venereal disease. If we accept the hypothesis of any recorded investi- 
gator or group of investigators, we have as yet no more promising 
method of getting a herd free from abortion than by taking the new- 
born calf and guarding it perpetually. The plan can at most be criti- 
cized only as beginning -too early, because the fight against abortion 
might be delayed for economic reasons until the animal has reached the 
age of 6 to 12 months, when, according to Bang, McFadyean and 
Stockman, and others, they may take the bacilli in their food, and the 
infection lie in wait until pregnancy affords fuel for a conflagration. 
In the meantime the isolation is needed because of scours and pneu- 
monia and tuberculosis, and while these two are being evaded the 
third may be simultaneously parried. The growing of sound calves 
in relation to the three scourges named appeals to us as the most 
interesting and urgent problem before the cattle breeder. In order 
to accomplish results radical changes in the handling of newborn 
calves must be established. Maternity and calf buildings must 
meet fully all demands for light, air, and temperature, and to these 
must be added practicability of thorough cleansing. 
A PLAN FOR BREEDING SOUND ANIMALS. 
We would outline the following plan for the breeders of pedigreed 
and valuable dairy cattle with a view to the production of cleaner 
and more efficient herds. 
1. The construction or arrangement of independent maternity and 
calf nursery stables embodying all modern requirements for ventila- 
tion, light, heat, convenience for disinfection, and ample facilities 
for the exclusion of flies. The stables should provide sufficient 
individual stalls for all calving cows and individual stalls for calves 
until at least three months old. 
2. A cow which is about to calve should be well cleaned and her 
posterior parts disinfected, after which she should be placed in a clean 
stall some days prior to expected parturition. Pending parturition 
the stall should be kept scrupulously clean and well disinfected. The 
tail, vulva, buttocks, and udder should be disinfected twice daily. 
In order to avoid the danger of infection to the calf while passing 
through the vagina of the cow during birth either by the infection of 
white scours, the granular venereal disease, or other malady, the 
vagina should be irrigated daily with a mild disinfectant such as 0.5 
per cent LugoFs solution. Such attention to the vagina also tends 
