ABORTION BY COWS. 
Ill 
the stomach and intestinal canal may arise through the direct ac¬ 
tion of cold, which may extend to the pregnant uterus. Uterine 
contractions may be released by sudden fluctuations in the quan¬ 
tity of blood supplying the uterus, or by a sudden appearance of 
anaemia. 
Abortion is frequently caused by the partaking of blighted 
food. Some parasitic fungi which are found upon cereals are 
said to cause it. The rye-fungus (sclerotium clavus) is the most 
common. In some years’ growth it is not only to be found upon 
rye, but also on other gramineous plants, such as broure-grass 
(bromus), English rye-grass (solium perenne) and others. One 
form of the rye-fungus, the u clariceps microcephala,” is found 
in some districts in extraordinary large quantities upon red grass 
(sparganium). In countries where pregnant animals have to pass 
over the commons, or places where such straws have been out¬ 
spread, it has been noticed that abortions are quite frequent. In 
countries where Turkish corn is cultivated to a very great extent, 
a fungus found upon maize has been noticed to cause abortion 
frequently. Twenty-four grammes of the latter given in two 
days, have been sufficient to cause abortion by two dogs. Other 
food, which has been spoiled by fungi, can also produce abortion. 
The cause of such abortions is generally to be sought in the fungi 
or their production. There are a large number of other poisons 
worthy of an organic nature, which act in a similar manner. It is 
very interesting to see how abortion generally sets in by the daily 
assumption of the smallest quantities of certain poisons. Accord¬ 
ing to this, large doses of these poisons are not always necessary 
in order to produce such an action ; it is a fact, that a kind of 
cumulative action can easily take place. In the human subject 
very interesting observations have been made in this direction. 
By Dr. Ludwig Hirt, it was statistically proved that abortion 
is very frequent among females employed in lead, phosphor, 
arsenic and aniline factories. In a lead factory there were, out of 
141 pregnant females, 82-85% which aborted. Hirt has ex¬ 
perimented with aniline on pregnant rabbits and dogs, and found 
that aniline produces abortion in an exorbitant manner. The 
longest period which took place between the administering of 
