INFECTIOUS ABORTION IN MARES. 
189 
would occur Several foals lived, and apparently, for a week 
or ten days, were perfectly healthy, when it would be noticed 
that the joints of the little fellows were swollen, and there 
was general dejection. 
The possibility that the same cause was in operation in 
producing the two maladies at once presented itself for con¬ 
sideration. Upon this general supposition, the investigation 
in regard to abortion was made. The result will be seen in 
a history of the experiment. 
Etiology .—At first, the trouble was supposed to be caused 
by the food on which the animals were fed. Investigations 
were made, but no agents likely to cause abortion were found. 
These investigations were made by botanists and men thor¬ 
oughly capable of doing such work. They were employed 
by Mr. Daly, who has been extremely anxious to fathom the 
trouble, and has used all available means to do the same. He 
has spared no expense, and too much credit cannot be given 
him for his kindly and generous aid to science in fathoming 
the cause of this malady. 
Prior to this, however, it was supposed that the animals 
might be aborting from sympathy ; then it was that those 
having aborted were immediately separated from the mares 
in foal. Mares and cows frequently abort through sympathy 
it seems, and no infection exists. Upon arrival and prior to 
it, indeed,* infectious abortion was suspected, and the inves¬ 
tigation was begun with that idea in mind. Having arrived 
late in the foaling season, few mares were left to foal. This, 
however, was not a great disadvantage, for a few days after 
arrival a sorrel mare, Biddy Mac, running on a mountain 
range, gave birth to a foal, which, as far as external appear¬ 
ances were concerned, was perfectly healthy, except that it 
was extremely weak. Being very young, however, no trou¬ 
ble was anticipated from this cause. In all these cases the 
foetal membrane was always abnormal in appearance. 
*Dr. Halloway, State Veterinarian, had secured the services of Dr. Paul Pa- 
quin for Mr. Daly, and they had made researches which led them to conclude 
that it was infectious abortion. Later, Dr. Paul Evans was secured to continue 
the investigation begun by the former. His work, not yet published, conforms 
to the views of Paquin and Halloway. 
