694 
ON ABORTION IN CATTLE. 
when the ground is covered with hard frost, or they are kept in 
marshy situations where thick and heavy fogs prevail. 
Another cause of abortion in cows is the custom in some situa¬ 
tions to water them in, or make them walk over a deep tenacious 
soil, into which they sink deeply, or to permit them to pasture in 
the neighbourhood of ponds, where the soil is of this quality. In 
order to disengage their feet from the clay into which they every 
moment sink, they are compelled to make considerable efforts, which 
are principally evident towards the region of the loins, and these 
cause in the uterus, and, in fact, in the whole of the frame, a suc¬ 
cession of violent struggles too likely to detach the foetus, and 
especially when the pregnancy is far advanced. 
Bleeding has been supposed, without sufficient reason, to be a 
cause of abortion. The useless bleedings, which are frequently 
practised in some places as methods of precaution, and at certain 
seasons of the year, are not to be defended; but they have no con¬ 
nexion with abortion. Many times, in the course of a long prac¬ 
tice, and in consequence of certain indications, we have abstracted 
blood from cows that were pregnant, but abortion has never been 
produced by this operation; nevertheless, it must be conceded, that 
too copious a venesection might be the cause of abortion, by de¬ 
stroying the equilibrium in the circulation; also, by suddenly di¬ 
minishing the quantity of blood directed to the uterus, it may relax, 
or, perhaps, momentarily suspend, the important function with 
which this viscus is charged. If, however, the bleeding is prac¬ 
tised with prudence and moderation, and repeated only when the 
abstraction of blood is absolutely required, the operation may be re¬ 
sorted to without danger. 
It is said that the sow will abort if ,she is suffered to eat too 
much cabbage, or rape, or any other plants from which much gas 
may be occasionally extricated. From the frequent cutaneous affec¬ 
tion to which this animal is subject, and the habit of rubbing itself 
against hard bodies, may arise another cause of abortion. This 
accident, however, is rare in the sow, especially in the state of 
liljerty in which she is usually kept. 
A disposition to abortion, especially at an advanced period of 
utero-gestation, would be recognized by the same symptoms as in¬ 
dicate the approach of parturition, except that they would not be so 
decided, and more subject to certain modifications. There are some 
females that appear very little or at all affected, either during or be¬ 
fore the process of abortion. Sometimes it is sudden, or almost with¬ 
out warning. Ordinarily, however, the appetite is diminished—the 
cow is dull—ruminates but little, and staggers as she walks. Some¬ 
times, the paunch is hoven—the belly usually drops—the motions 
