192 PA THOLOG Y OF GESTA TION. 



In other instances, after the ordinary period of gestation has been 

 exceeded by several months, signs of parturition are again manifested, 

 and delivery may then be safely accomplished, either without aid, which 

 is rare, or by careful manipulation ; the young animal may even be born 

 alive if too long a period has not intervened since the normal time of deliv- 

 ery.* Parturition in these cases is generally difficult ; and the favorable 

 termination of such a copdition is due to the membranes of the fcetus re- 

 maining intact, and the os sufficiently contracted and close to exclude the 

 atmosphere. Even under these circumstances, as Saint-Cyr points out, 

 the retention of the foetus may not have so fortunate an ending. Very 

 often, after fruitless straining, the animal continues unwell ; it has little or 

 no appetite, languishes, becomes feeble : hectic fever appears ; it falls 

 into a state of marasmus, and dies after a more or less prolonged period 

 of misery. 



When, at the usual time of parturition, the straining of the animal has 

 ruptured the fcetal membranes, and the liquor amnii escapes, air at the 

 same time obtaining access to the uterine cavity, the case is in nearly 

 every instance very serious. The foetus soon perishes and begins to 

 putrefy, and in a short time the decomposing mass causes inflammation 

 of the uterus (metritis), accompanied by frequent and exceedingly severe 

 straining ; low fever supervenes ; a foul-smelling putrescent fluid escapes 

 from the vagina, and the creature finally succumbs to metritis and putrid 

 infection. In other instances the termination is not so rapid. The ani- 

 mal remains unhealthy ; the secretion of milk is suspended ; horribly 

 fetid discharges are passed per vaginam, containing pus, broken-up 

 decomposed tissues, and even bones of the fcetus ; these discharges are 

 increased by the straining which sometimes takes place at intervals. In 

 the mean time, the creature loses condition, emaciation becomes extreme, 

 and death ensues from debility and marasmus. 



With the Cow we may, nevertheless, have a vaginal discharge, due' to 

 the presence of a putrefying foetus, and foe a long time, without any such 

 serious result. Figuier, quoted by Saint-Cyr, removed from the uterus of 

 a Cow the entire skeleton of a foetus which had been there for more than 

 five years, without giving rise to any other symptoms than a very disgust- 

 ing intermittent vaginal discharge. The animal quite recovered. 

 Thierry reports the abortion of a Cow at the fifth month of gestation, 

 and the retention of the putrefied foetus for more than three months 

 afterwards, without any harm ensuing ; Gervy also removed the head of 

 a fcetus which had lain in the uterus of a Cow for eighteen months, with- 

 out the animal suffering much inconvenience during that time. In the 

 Veterinarian (vol. ix., p. 454) there is an instance of a Cow carrying 

 a decomposing calf for two years with impunity ; and another (vol. xxix., 

 p. 577) for ten months. 



It is not the same with the Mare, as death has been the usual termina- 

 tion \ but it would appear that retention of the foetus is very unusual 

 indeed in this animal, the best recorded instances being one by Hamon, 



* In the Newcastle Journal for January i8, 1840, there is the description of a calf which was born on 

 the 365th day (fifty-two weeks and cue day). It was alive when dropped, but died soon after. It was of 

 great size, though bom without assistance ; it was a male. 



Strange to relate, in the Verierinarian for 1850 (p. 148), a Mr. Tatam, of Homcastle, records a case of 

 abnormal gestation in a Cow in his locality, in which not only was the period the same (fifty-two weeks and 

 a day), but the calf was a male, as extraordinary in size, and excited a similar degree of wonder as the 

 above ! Mr. Tatam saw the calf : had he seen the other one ? . 



I have some instances of 300 days' gestation, the calves being born alive. 



In the Mare, prolonged gestation is not so frequent, though it sometimes occurs, the foetus being retained 

 a month, or even a little longer, without prejudice to the foal's existence. 



