NECESSARY AID IN NORMAL PARTURITION. - 247 



divided between the ligatures ; or it may be severed by scraping it through 

 with a jagged knife. 



Immediately after delivery, and having removed the mucus which some- 

 times clogs the mouth and nostrils, and hinders respiration, the young 

 animal should be examined to ascertain whether it be strong or weak, 

 whether all the natural apertures exist — such as the eyes, mouth, anus, 

 vulva, urethra — and if any of them chance to be absent, to make artificial 

 ones soon, if possible, by a kind of puncture, enlarging afterwards by the 

 knife and sound, and preventing union by pledgets of lint, etc. 



Suspended Animation. — Whenever the connection with the mother is 

 interrupted by rupture or occlusion of the umbilical cord, the young 

 creature must breathe, respiration being now carried on by the lungs, 

 through the nostrils. 



The establishment of respiration is a purely reflex act. The foetus, 

 hitherto maintained at a certain and always uniform degree of warmth in 

 its liquid bed in the uterus, is suddenly ushered into the cold and dry air 

 of the outer world ; and this transition operates chiefly on the skin, 

 producing a peculiar impression — such as we ourselves experience in 

 being suddenly immersed in cold water ; this impression is at once 

 transmitted to the cerebro-spinal centre, whence the reflex influence of 

 the spinal cord is called into play, and the respiratory muscles are excited 

 to movement by the centrifugal nerves issuing therefrom. All these 

 muscles contract simultaneously, the chest is dilated, and the air rushes 

 into the air-passages and lungs, distending the air-cells in the latter, and 

 instituting the process of respiration, which is only to cease with the 

 death of the creature. This reflex act may also be produced by pressure 

 on the umbilical cord, or any thing which hinders the oxygenation of the 

 blood in the foetus ; hence it has been inferred that the excess of 

 carbonic acid in the circulating fluid acts as a stimulus to the medulla 

 oblongata. 



It sometimes happens that the young creature is in a state of syncope 

 when born, or very soon after, and gives no sign of life ; and observers 

 have distinguished syncope from weakness, in which the animal is cold 

 and does not breathe, the mucous membranes being pale and the body 

 flaccid ; and syncope from plethora or cyanosis, when the inucous mem- 

 branes are of a livid blue tint, the lips and tongue swollen, and the eyes 

 injected. 



In the first form, resuscitation is to be attempted by pouring cold 

 water on the head, beating the body with a cloth dipped in cold water — 

 particularl}- about the face and chest — dry-rubbing the limbs, titillating 

 the nostrils with a feather, puffing tobacco-smoke into them, imitating the 

 respiratory movements, as in a case of asphyxia, and inflating the lungs 

 by means of a pair of bellows, acting through the nostrils. So long as 

 the heart pulsates there is a probability of restoration to life. 



In the second form, allowing a little blood to flow from the umbilical 

 cord, and even cutting this or fomenting it with hot water to induce 

 haemorrhage, is very useful, in conjunction with cold water to the head 

 and cold water enemas. But, as a rule, death is always imminent in these 

 cases of syncope. 



General Care. — With the larger animals, the newly-born creature 

 should be placed before the mother, if it is not near her; and it generally 

 follows that she instinctively licks off the viscid matter which covers its 



