A NO MA LIES IN GESTA TION 1 7 1 



the crown of a hat (?). It weighed eighteen ounces some time after it had been found, 

 but was much larger and heavier when first expelled; it was thickly covered with 

 long fine lo/iiie hair, which was longest and thickest on one side ; at the part where it 

 was thinnest there was a nude spot at the point of attachment of the placental membrane, 

 and near the external border other two bare places which were deeply concave and 

 red colored, one having a slight eminence in the centre. The entire mass was soft and 

 pulpy, as if the interior was composed of cells containing fluid. No traces of bone 

 could be felt, and as it was decided to keep the specimen intact, nothing more of its 

 structure was reported. 



Rainard and others mention having found fibrous moles {mola racc- 

 f/iosii) in the uterine cornua of the Bitch, Pig, and some other multiparous 

 animals during gestation ; and most frequently in the last dilatation of 

 one horn, rarely in both ; and sometimes between two of the dilatations 

 which contain living foetuses. They are spheroidal, soft, irregular in 

 shape, and look like flesh ; they appear to be composed of fibres run- 

 ning in every direction. In the dilatation of the horn containing them, 

 traces of a zonular uterine placenta have been observed. Rainard was 

 of opinion that they were embryos whose development was checked by 

 disease. 



Demoussy states that the presence of a foetal mole in the Mare gives 

 rise to the same phenomena as real pregnancy — enlargement of the ab- 

 domen, sinking of the croup and flanks, sluggish gait, and altered respira- 

 tion ; and that the diagnosis is the presence or absence of movement in 

 the foetus. 



Uterine Kysts. 



Uterine kysts are pathological productions, somewhat analogous to the 

 vesicular degeneration of the human placenta, in which the placental villi 

 are distended with fluid, enlarged, elliptical, transparent, and loosely con- 

 nected, while their vessels become obliterated and disappear. This con- 

 stitutes what has been designated a " vesicular mole." 



Liautard (Journal de Med. Veterinaire de Lyon, 1859) was to called to assist a Cow in 

 parturition, on January 28, 1854. The animal was eight months old, and its abdomen 

 had, within the previous eight days, assumed unusual dimensions ; while the very vio- 

 lent expulsive efforts it made were followed by no result. When the hand was intro- 

 duced into the vagina, the os was found to be moderately dilated, and in it was found a 

 fluctuating tumor which was at first thought to be the bag of the waters. At each ex- 

 pulsive effort this tumor was much protruded, but labor did not progress. Another 

 more thorough exploration resulted in pushing the tumor back, and passing the hand 

 through the os into the uterus ; then it was discovered that the tumor was not formed 

 by the foetal envelopes, and that it adhered by one of its extremities to the inferior 

 surface of the uterus, at the point where the mucous membrane entered the os. Its 

 shape was oblong, and in size it was as large as an ostrich's egg ; it was a uterine kyst. 

 While this obstacle was being pushed forward, a sudden effort made by the Cow carried 

 into the os, then into the vagina, and at last externally, the bag of the waters, which on 

 rupturing exposed the fore feet of a foetus ; this was withdrawn by a few gentle pulls, 

 but it was dead, and appeared to be about seven months developed. On the hand 

 being re-introduced into the uterus, the kyst was soon found ; it had been compressed 

 during delivery, but now it had assumed its original size, and was lying in front of the 

 internal orifice of the os. Exploring still farther, two other, but smaller and more cir- 

 cumscribed, tuniors of the same character were felt in the middle of the body of the 

 uterus. In consequence of this discovery, the owner of the animal was recommended 

 to have it sold to the butcher as soon as it had recovered sufficiently. This advice Avas 

 not followed, however, and the Cow appeared to be quite well soon after, yielding, as it 

 did, twelve litres of milk daily. In two months it was put to the Bull, and in time was 

 supposed to be pregnant, as the abdomen gradually became more voluminous. Never- 

 theless, it remained emaciated, its quantity of milk diminished, there was tympanitis at 

 intervals, and this appeared to be relieved only after an abundant emission of urine. 

 When eleven months had elapsed since the previous abortion, and the period for par- 



