INJURIES AND INFLAMMATION OF THE VULVA, ETC. 683 



readily be cured, but extensive union between the opposed vaginal 

 walls is a serious matter. 



A case of the former kind in an Ayrshire quey was cured by incision. 

 The animal had shown a temperature of 104" 5°F., and severe abdominal 

 pain. Four pints of offensive fluid were evacuated. (Cadiot and Dollar's 

 " Clinical Veterinary Medicine and Surgery," p. 424.) 



Geyer noticed occlusion of the vagina in three calves two or three weeks 

 after birth ; in two cases it was possible to break down the adhesions. 

 After the discharge of several quarts of a reddish, turbid, ill-smelling fluid, 

 Geyer washed out the vagina with 1 per cent, creolin solution ; recovery 

 followed. In the third calf the entrance to the vagina was too narrow to 

 admit even a single finger. After repeatedly passing the trocar, the animal 

 was fattened for slaughter. 



Schmidt describes a case in a heifer which eight days previously had 

 been bulled, and had immediately bled freely ; the vagina was closed 

 by a membrane in front of the opening of the urethra. Excessive dilatation 

 of the vagina rendered the passage of fseces difficult. After perforating 

 the membrane with a trocar, increasing the opening with the finger and 

 hand, and washing out the parts with creolin solution, healing occurred 

 in fourteen days. In this case also four to five quarts of a whitish, ill- 

 smelling fluid were discharged. The hymen was probably unusually 

 resistant. 



Wounds of the vagina in cows are commonest after prolapse or 

 after parturition, especially in primiparee. Sometimes the surface 

 alone is injured or the mucous membrane excoriated, though lacerations 

 and perforations are also seen, particularly in the large animals. 

 More than one observer has seen perforating wounds of the vagina 

 caused by the penis of the stallion during coitus. It must be 

 remembered in these cases that the hinder part of the vagina is 

 surrounded by loose connective tissue, which connects it above with 

 the rectum and below with the pelvis. In the mare, this connection 

 extends about 5 inches in a forward direction, and below for a rather 

 longer distance. Perforating vaginal wounds, therefore, lie farther 

 forward, and must always be regarded as serious, both on account 

 of the danger of peritonitis and of prolapse of the bowel. In mares, 

 peritonitis is most to be feared. Prolapse of the bowel is particularly 

 favoured by straining, which is almost always present after such 

 injuries, and by the entrance into the peritoneal cavity of air, which 

 sometimes causes very great distension. 



Haemorrhage is less grave, unless infected blood passes through 

 ■ a perforating wound into the peritoneal sac, where it may lead to 

 peritonitis. Surface injuries require attention only in mares, in 

 which infective substances readily initiate such disease as metritis. 

 After parturition, the danger is greater in summer than in winter, 

 particularly if the after-birth is long retained. For the same reason, 



