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MATERNAL DYSTOKIA. 



Garreau has found the cervix in this uterine deviation, thickened^, indu- 

 rated, and the os closed. Delivery was impossible, and the foetus re- 

 mained for three months in the uterus without causing any great incon- 

 venience to the Cow. At the end of this period the calf was extracted 

 by Caesarean section, and with perfect success ; as the Cow quite recov- 

 ered, and was sold at a good price eight months afterwards. 



In one of the cases described by Schaack, the foetus was in the verte- 

 bro-sacral position, and the limbs and head having been secured by cords, 

 delivery was accomplished by strong traction. In a quarter of an hour 

 afterwards, however, the Cow lay down, trembled all over, the muscles of 

 the limbs and the eyes contracted in a convulsive manner, and death 

 rapidly ensued. 



At the autopsy, which was made six hours after death, a quantity of 

 blood, in the form of a large clot, was found in the abdomen, and the 

 textures about the pubis were infiltrated with that fluid. The uterus had 

 resumed its ordinary form, and its mucous membrane was intact ; but at 

 the inferior part of the organ, there was a large triangular tear, about 

 six inches long and four wide ; and it was noted that this laceration had 

 caused the rupture of two good-sized arteries, which of course led to the 

 haemorrhage that caused death so rapidly. 



Indications. 



The indications for treatment in this deviation are simple : raise the 

 fundus of the uterus, lower the cervix, and bring the os on a line with 

 the vagina. When this is accomplished, the uterine contractions will act 

 directly on the cervix, and if this is healthy, dilatation of .the os will soon 

 take place ; then the foetus, pushed towards the vagina, instead of against 

 the sacrum, will enter the passage, from which a little judicious manipu- 

 lation will in all probability remove it, and thus complete delivery. 



Several modes of procedure have been recommended for adoption in 

 carrying out these indications. Indeed, Saint-Cyr states that when the 

 deviation is inconsiderable^ and the valvular band we have mentioned as 

 obstructing the os is not present, reduction is often spontaneously effect- 

 ed by mere decubitus. This, in pushing upwards the fundus of the 

 uterus, brings down the cervix to its normal position by an easily under- 

 stood tilting movement. Schaack has noticed this to happen in two in- 

 stances. 



In such cases, says Rainard, if the animal persists in standing, it naay 

 suffice to raise the belly by means of a folded sheet or blanket, or even a 

 plank held by an assistant on each side of the Cow ; or the creature may 

 be gently thrown down on a thick bed of straw. 



In difficult cases, however, these measures will not be sufficient, and 

 Garreau recommends the following procedure to be adopted. Introduce 

 the right hand into the rectum and the left into the vagina ; with the 

 first press on the head of the foetus, and push back its body (the vaginal 

 tumor) with the second, tilting, as it were, the young creature into its 

 natural position. This will bring the uterus into its normal situation, and 

 consequently the os opposite the vagina. 



Saint-Cyr, nevertheless, gives the preference to the method recom- 

 mended and practised by Schaack in these troublesome cases, inasmuch 

 as it is more simple, and experience has demonstrated its efficacy. This 

 method consists merely in throwing down the Cow most carefully, plac- 



