i8o PA THOLOG Y OF GESTA TION. 



ordinary progress of gestation ; as when parturition occurred three months 

 afterwards, a well-formed mule was born and continued to live. 



The chances of success are greater as intervention takes place early, 

 and before the abdomen is excessively distented, the respiration not seri- 

 ously affected, and debility not great. 



The evacuation should be effected through the vagina, though it has 

 been made through a puncture in the flank. If the membranes are in the 

 vagina, they may be ruptured by the fingers there ; if not, and the os is 

 sufficiently dilated for the admission of the hand, they may be ruptured 

 in the uterus ; if it is closed it should be gently dilated, and the envelopes 

 punctured, if necessary, by means of a trocar and canula. As soon as 

 the membranes are pierced, a gush of fluid takes place, the abdomen 

 diminishes in volume, the uterus becomes retracted, and in this retrac- 

 tion the foetus and membranes are sometimes expelled. Should this 

 expulsion not take place soon, they must be removed in the ordinary 

 way. Afterwards, the animal is to be carefully attended to and gener- 

 ously fed. 



Paraplegia: 



Paralysis of the posterior extremities during gestation, is not rare in 

 the Cow, especially when near parturition, and often even v/hen that act 

 has commenced ; it is also witnessed in the Sheep and Goat. Generally, 

 however, it appears six, eight, ten, or twenty days, rarely a month or 

 six weeks, previously, and attacks animals in the most diverse hygienic 

 conditions — those which are well fed and tended, as well as those 

 which receive the opposite treatment. As Saint-Cyr remarks, it is not 

 rare to observe, in a cow-shed, two or three cases occurring a short dis- 

 tance from each other, and even in a locality we may, in certain years, 

 meet with a number of cases; then several consecutive years may elapse 

 without any being noted, though it would be a manifest exaggeration to say 

 that it was either an epizootic or enzootic malady. It must not be con- 

 founded with what has been termed " parturient fever," in which we have 

 paralysis, but from which it differs greatly, as the symptoms and results 

 will show. 



The paralysis of gestation generally appears suddenly and without any 

 premonitory symptoms, manifesting itself with the same intensity at the 

 outset as at a later period ; though in rare cases, the animal shows a 

 weakness and unsteadiness of the posterior part of the body and hind 

 limbs for a short time before it drops, and the tail hangs disjointedly 

 and flaccid. When paralysis has really set in, the Cow is forced to 

 lie, but it does not appear to puffer ; the decubitus is natural, the head 

 carried as usual, the eye bright and clear,, the muffle damp and cool, 

 and the rumination in the majority of instances is not suspended ; the 

 pulse, respiration, and appetite are unaltered, and sensation does not seem 

 to be impaired, even in the hind limbs — it may even be exalted. Consti- 

 pation is frequently present. It is only when the animal attempts to rise 

 that its condition is evident ; the fore limbs and neck can be moved to 

 accomplish this, but the hinder extremities are powerless. 



Ordinarily, the paralysis persists until parturition, when it disappears ; 

 though Saint-C5T mentions an instance in which a Cow became paralyzed 

 twenty-eight days before that event, and lay on the litter for two days 

 after calving, without being able to move its hind extremities, but which 

 arose spontaneously on the third day, and did well. The same authority. 



