PART SECOND. 



DYSTOKIA. 

 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



In studying the physiology of parturition, we saw that a favorable ter- 

 mination of labor depended on two factors, one of which was a proper 

 degree of activity of the expelling powers, and the other a normal condi- 

 tion of the obstacles to be overcome by these powers. When these are 

 out of proportion to each other, then we have difficult parturition or 

 Dystokia (o''>'^ difficult ; roxoc, birtJi). Difficult parturition may be due 

 to too feeble pains, or to an obstacle which the unaided efforts of the 

 animal cannot surmount except after an unusual period of labor, or not 

 at all. 



We have already alluded to the nature of and variations in the expel- 

 ling forces, and also to the causes of protracted labor. We have now to 

 treat of the difficulties attending parturition, with their consequences — 

 proximate or remote, and the means to be adopted for overcoming, pre- 

 venting, or remedying these. This involves a study of the necessary ob- 

 stetrical operations, the accidents attending or following parturition, and 

 the diseased conditions more or less related to the puerperal state — all of 

 which may be included under the head of " pathology of parturition." 



The difficulties attending parturition depend upon the resistance op- 

 posed to the expelling powers, and this is determined by the relation of 

 the object to be expelled — the presenting part of the foetus — to the mater- 

 nal genital passages. Consequently, an exaggerated resistance may be 

 due to abnormal conditions of the parturient passages, or to some un- 

 natural condition of the young animal. In the first we have Maternal 

 Dystokia, and in the second Fcetal Dystokia. These necessitate particular 

 operations, some of which demand much study, address, and manipula-' 

 five power on the part of the obstetrist. In addition, we have dangerous 

 accidents sometimes occurring during parturition, which, if they do not 

 happen to interfere with the mechanism of that act, may nevertheless 

 require the highest degree of surgical skill to remedy. And, finally, there 

 are the maladies which accompany the parturient state, some of them 

 being serious, and needing great clinical knowledge for their successful 

 treatment. 



These difficulties, accidents, and diseases do not occur with the same 

 gravity, nor with the same frequency, in all the domesticated animals ; 

 indeed, with regard to the latter, some species appear to be altogether 

 exempted from at least one or more of them. 



Cases of dvstokia are much more frequent in the bovine species than 

 in any other ;* and least so, perhaps, in the equine species. These tvvo 



* The Camel, and particularly the Bactrian, which is characteristic of Mongolia, appears generally to 

 require assistance during parturition. At least we may infer this from the statement of Colonel Prejevalsky, 

 who, in speaking of the Mongolian Camel, says:— 'The males become vicious during the rutting season, 

 which is in February, and they will then fight with one another, and sometimes attack mankind. The 



