diseases of the digestive organs.

DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 179by examining the womb with the oiled hand introduced through therectum.Polypi may cause a muco-purulent discharge, or they may only besuspected when they prove an obstacle to parturition. The best wayto remove them is to put the chain of an ecraseur around the neck orpedicel of the tumor and tear it through; or the narrow neck may betorn through by the emasculator, or in an emergency it may be twistedthrough by rotating the tumor on its own axis. The removal of thetumor will allow calving to proceed, after which the sore may be treatedby a daily injection of one-half dram sulphate of zinc, 1 dram carbolicacid, and 1 quart milk-warm water.SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.If a cow remains for three or four weeks after service without showing signs of heat (bulling) she is probably pregnant. There are veryexceptional cases in which the well-fed cow will accept the bull weeksor months after actual conception, and others equally exceptional inwhich the well-thriven but unimpregnated female will refuse the malepersistently, but these in no way invalidate the general rule.The bull, no matter how vigorous nor how ardent his sexual instinct,can not be made to pay any attention to a cow which is not in heat;hence indications of pregnacy can be had from both the male and femaleside. When she has conceived the cow usually becomes more quiet anddocile, and lays on fleshand fat more rapidly, especially during the firstfour months of gestation. The stimulus to digestion and nutritioncreated by the demands of the growing fetus, added to the quieter andmore uneventful life, contributes to this result. Some feeders avail ofthis disposition to prepare heifers and cows speedily for the butcher.The enlargement of the abdomen, and its dropping so that it bulgesbelow and to each side, while it falls in at the flank,between the outerangle of the hip bone and the last rib, are significant features whichthough they may be caused by abdominal tumor or dropsy, are usuallymarks of pregnancy. From the same increasing weight of the abdomenthe spine in the region of the loins sinks so that the bones of the croupseem to rise, especially back towards the root of the tail. In the earlystages of pregnancy the udder develops slowly, and towards its completionquite rapidly. For a long time there is merely a sense of greaterfullness when handled; the wrinkles in the skin become shallower andare effaced, and the teats are materially enlarged. Beginning a fewweeks after conception, this tends to a steady development, thoughslight alternations in the sense of successive growth and shrinkage arenot uncommon. In milking-cows this does not hold, as the milk usuallytends to a steady diminution and the udder shrinks slowly until nearthe completion of the period, when it undergoes its sudden remarkabledevelopment, and yields at first a serous liquid and then the yellowcolostrum, which coagulates when heated. As pregnancy advances the