691 
ON ABORTION IN CATTLK. 
would be the same with cattle, whose period of gestation is of the 
same length; and we may consider in this animal every expulsion 
of the fcEtus after the seventh and before the expiration of the 
ninth month of gestation, as a premature parturition; reserving the 
term abortion for the expulsion of a foetus before the seventh month. 
With regard to other species of domestic animals this will vary 
with the usual period of gestation. 
This accident, to which cows are more subject than any other 
domestic animal, is always followed by consequences more or less 
injurious, both with regard to the mother and the progeny. In the 
mother, it sometimes, but rarely, is followed by death, and generall}'' 
by a disposition to abortion at a future time, and also to inflamma¬ 
tion at that period, and difficulty or impossibility of being delivered. 
The abortion which is least serious is that which takes place at a 
short period after conception. Many cows experience very little 
derangement of their health, but in others the period of mstrum 
returns at a very short distance of time, and is strangely prolonged, 
and difficult to remove. Returning frequently, conception seldom 
takes place, or, if it does, is followed by renewed abortion, and by ’ 
the death of the calf either before or quickly after its expulsion 
from the uterus. 
Abortion, however, has other dangerous consequences. The 
cows, and especially if badly kept, remain weak, and predisposed 
to various maladies, and other abortions follow the first. 
When a cow aborts in the first months of conception, her par¬ 
turition will be difficult. Except great care is taken, the expul¬ 
sion of the uterus and also of the vagina will follow; and, where 
unskilful hands are employed in effecting the delivery, it will be 
fortunate if the membrane of the vagina is not ruptured. This 
latter accident is a very serious one, and often mortal, especially 
when the laceration is near to the uterus. 
The females most exposed to premature parturition are cows and 
mares ; next to them follow sheep. Abortion, however, is seldom 
prevalent among the latter, except from some particular cause, and 
if it is frequent, which is very rare in sheep, it is from some cause 
affecting the whole flock; as, for instance, when they have been 
half starved, or when, after a rainy summer and autumn, during 
which they have been badly kept, they are shut up in the winter in 
stables, in which they are yet worse off. Abortion likewise hap¬ 
pens to sheep, when the ewes, exposed all the year to the open air, 
.are placed in situations in which the atmosphere is charged with 
much humidity. 
Goats rarely, or almost never, abort. It is the same with sows 
and with bitches, with the exception of the very small and delicate 
breeds, either too young or too fat. They seldom go their natural 
