186 BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRT. 



securely when the mare raises her back to strain. It is desirable to 

 tlo the mare short so that she may be unaljle to lie down for a day or 

 two, and she should be kept in a stall with the hind parts higher than 

 the fore. Violent straining may be checked bj^ full doses of opium 

 (one-half dram), and any costiveness or diarrhea shoidd be obviated 

 by a suicablc laxative or binding diet. 



In some mares the contractions are too violent to allow of the return 

 of the womb, and full doses of opium one-half dram, laudanum 2 

 ounces, or chloral hydrate 1 ounce, may be demanded!, or the mare 

 nmst be rendered insensible l)y ether or chloroform. 



RUPTURE, OR LACERATION, OF THE WOMB. 



This may occur from the feet of the foal during parturition, or from 

 ill-directed efforts to assist, but it is especially liable to take place in 

 the everted, congested, and friable organ. The resultant dangers are 

 bleeding from the wound, escape of the bowels through tlie opening 

 and their fatal injury by the mare's feet or otherwise, and peritonitis 

 from the extension of inflammation from the wound and from the 

 poisonous action of the septic liquids of the womb escaping into the 

 abdominal cavitj'. The first object is to close the wound, but unless 

 in eversion of Ihe womb this is practically impossible. In the last- 

 named condition the wound must be carefully and accuratelj" sewed 

 up before the womb is returned. After its return, the womb must 

 be injected dailj^ with an antiseptic solution (borax, one-half ounce, or 

 carbolic acid, 3 drams to a quart of tepid water). If inflammation 

 threatens, the abdomen may be bathed continuously with hot water 

 by means of a heavy woolen I'ag, and large doses of opium (one-half 

 llram) may be given twice or thrice daily. 



RUPTURJES OF THE VAGINA. 



These are attended l)y dangers similar to those belonging to rupture 

 of the womb, and in addition by the risk of protrusion of the bladder, 

 which appears through the lips of the vulva as a red pyriform mass. 

 Sometimes such lacerations extend downv/ard into the bladder, and in 

 others upward into the terminal gut (rectum). In still other cases the 

 anus is torn so that it forms one connuon orifice with the vulva. 



Too often such cases prove fatal, or at least a recover}' is not 

 attained, and urine or feces or both escape freely into the vagina. 

 The simple laceration of the anus is easily sewed up, but the ends of 

 the muscular fibers do not reunite and the control over the lower 

 bowel is never fully reacquired. The successful stitching up of the 

 wound communicating vvith the bladder or the rectum requires unusual 

 skill and care, and though I Lave succeeded in a case of the latter 

 kind, I can not advise the attempt l)y unprofessional persons. 



