ACCIDENTS OF PREGNANCY. 19. 



the movements of the foetus had been lately observed. On the previous evening the 

 usual signs of approaching parturition were noted ; there were expulsive efforts, a 

 discharge of glairy matter, considerable dilatation of the vulva, filling of the udder, 

 and sinking of the abdomen. An exploration /(?r ra?-/«-'zw discovered the cervix uteri 

 to be rigid and the os completely closed, which gave rise to a suspicion of the existence 

 of scirrhus. Three days afterwards glairy discharges had been passed, but the udder 

 and abdomen appeared to be diminished in size. Another examination proved that 

 the index finger could not be introduced into the uterus, but was opposed by a hard 

 tumor. The owner not assenting to an operation for the relief of the Mare, affairs were 

 left to take their course ; for two months there was no amendment; then the animal 

 was put to pasture, when improvement began, and on the return of the season it was put 

 six times to a Horse. Ten days afterwards it died. Examined immediately after death, 

 the uterus was fouiid to be a hard voluminous mass, which, when opened, was discovered 

 to contain the body of a well-formed-mule in a perfect state of preserv'ation, the hair 

 evenbeing quite firm. The nose was fixed in the os, and it had become elongated and 

 the nasal cavities obliterated. There was nothing unusual about the uterus itself or 

 the membranes, except at the cervix, the texture of which was yellow, swollen, and 

 scirrhus, and so hard that it was with difficulty cut. The Mare had gone twenty-three 

 months with foal, and the retention was due to the diseased condition of the cervix 

 uteri. 



At the Obstetrical Society of Edinburgh, in 1872, the mummified foetus of a Cow was 

 exhibited ; it had been expelled, without any effort, two years and three and a half 

 months after insemination. In July, 1S65, this Cow, which was of a celebrated breed, 

 was put to the Bull ; but in December it was attacked with the rinderpest, when no 

 doubt the foetus died, though the mother recovered. There were no signs of labor 

 when the foetus perished, nor yet at the ordinary period of parturition. The animal 

 was fedior the butcher, and on October iS, 1867, in the course of the extreme fattening 

 which it underwent, the almost forgotten pregnancy was brought to recollection by the 

 expulsion, probably due to the accumulation of fat in the omentum and elsewhere, of 

 the lithopaedian. 



In the Veterinarian (vol. xli., p. 88) Mr. Wilson describes a case of what he desig- 

 nates "retention of a foetus" in a Cow, which was evidently some time beyond the 

 usual period of parturition. On being killed and opened, all the viscera of the pelvis 

 and posterior part of the abdomen were observed to be bound up en masse by more or 

 less thin, transparent, and loose tissue. Removing this, the left tibia, fibula, and patella 

 of a foetus were found within a double of the intestine. The bones were fullyformed, 

 but black, and matted with short hair. The intestine of the Cow presented no morbid 

 appearances, but the contents were liquid at that part only. The animal had been 

 artacked with transient diarrhoea three days previously. The body of the uterus was 

 affected with anasarca, and in the cavity of the organ was another lot of bones of the 

 same appearance as the others. The cotyledons were entirely absorbed, and the tex- 

 ture of the walls was like basil leather. There were three distinct tubular passages 

 between the fundus of the organ and the colon, the largest of which was not less than 

 three inches in diameter, and through this the bones in the intestine must have passed. 

 The Fallopian tubes appeared to constitute two of these ducts. The cervix uteri was 

 cartilaginous, and no os could be found. 



A very interesting case is recorded in the Veterinarian (vol. xlii., p. 391) of a Cow 

 which had aborted towards Christmas, 186S, and until the following May had been in 

 thriving condition ; when in that month it began to lose appetite, and commenced to strain. 

 Then the vagina becamediscolored, and a peculiar offensive discharge flowed from it. 

 On examination /fr rectum nothing could be discovered, but on exploring the generative 

 organs it was found that the os uteri would admit the index finger, and that the dis- 

 charge, which was faecal in character, was proceeding from the uterus ; hence it was 

 surmised that the irritation and straining at the commencement of the animal's illness, 

 might be accounted for by the large quantity of faeculent matter escaping by the vagina. 

 The diagnosis was that a communication existed between the uterus and bowels, prob- 

 ably as the result of abscess. The Cow was destroyed, and on cutting down on what 

 appeared to be an enlarged portion of intestines, some of the bones of a calf were come 

 upon ; it was also noted that several communications existed between the uterus and 

 bowels. The uterus appeared to possess three, instead of two, cornua ; and in one of 

 these, and partly covered by a thick layer of the mucous membrane, several bones of a 

 foetus, including some belonging to the head, were found. An adhesion existed on the 

 outer side of the cavity containing the foetal remains, and the peritoneal surface of the 

 intestines. The continuous pressure of the sacculated bones had led to the production 

 of fistulous openings into the bowels, through which, apparently, several of the bones 

 had ultimately passed into the intestinal canal. This Cow may have been pregnant with 

 twins, and only one had been aborted. 



