776 MIDLAND COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
ovuline,—those which are connected with and are owing to some 
diseased condition of the foetus itself or its membranes. The 
remarks I shall now make upon the general causes of abortion will 
apply not only to the cow and the ewe, but to our domestic animals 
generally; that form of it to which the cow seems more especially 
liable I will notice presently. The maternal causes may be again 
. divided into the predisposing and accidental, the former being due 
to certain morbid conditional states of the uterus favouring abor¬ 
tion ; among these may be considered, great rigidity of its fibres, 
rendering it unyielding, its natural dilatation being thereby pre¬ 
vented, too great a determination of blood to the womb from the 
nerves of the part being suddenly excited, inflammation of and 
ulceration of the womb, besides many other conditional states of 
the organ rendering it predisposed to the expulsion of its contents; 
diseases of parts situated near the uterus, as of the bladder or 
rectum, may predispose to it; debility is also a predisposing cause, 
and the administration of a drastic purgative may be so. There is 
frequently very great local or constitutional susceptibility to uterine 
excitation, and in such a case a very slight shock or injury would 
be sufficient; at another time, when this great susceptibility or pre¬ 
disposition does not exist, the pregnant animal may suffer the most 
severe injuries, and endure the most acute pain without the pro¬ 
duction of abortion. The presence of any acute disease in a greater 
or lesser degree renders the animal susceptible, and during the 
prevalence of the epizootic diseases of “cattle plague,” “pleuro¬ 
pneumonia,” and “eczema,” abortion was of very frequent occur¬ 
rence ; but this may have depended to some extent upon the 
poisoned character of the blood, whereby it was rendered unfit to 
sustain the vitality of the foetus, the disease of the mother in fact 
being transmitted to it. Habit is another predisposing cause, each 
occurrence rendering the animal susceptible. 
The accidental causes may be thus enumerated: blows, falls, 
violent concussions, excessive or sudden exertions, &c. These act 
by first inducing congestion of the placental membranes, and 
secondly, their partial or complete separation from the uterus, 
whereby the life of the foetus is sacrificed ; it then becomes a foreign 
body in the womb, an irritating agent which nature soon makes an 
effort to get rid of, the uterus is excited, and the expulsion of its 
contents is affected. The death of the foetus (although it is gene¬ 
rally) is not always followed by its expulsion, it may be retained in 
the uterus, undergo decomposition, and be expelled a putrid mass 
at different times. 
The causes referable to the foetus may be said generally to be 
anything which induces its death, and many of the causes mentioned 
as maternal may consequently be included under this head; in 
addition, the death of the foetus may be brought about by a diseased 
and weakened condition of its membranes, interfering with its 
perfect nutrition, the blood, from debility of the mother, being de¬ 
ficient in some of the elements necessary for its nourishment; this 
weakened condition of the membranes may give rise to a rupture of 
