D YSTOKIA B Y D ISP LA CEMENT. 



291 



ing the animal on its back, and keeping it in that position by bundles of 

 straw. The weight of the foetus carries the uterus down towards the 

 spine (inferior) ; the fundus of the organ is depressed, and the cervix 

 raised towards the pubis (now superior) \ the obliquity of the uterus is 

 thus got rid of. 



Schaack has on two occasions resorted to this mode of reduction, and 

 in each case the abnormal valve disappeared, and parturition was ren- 

 dered easy. 



Professor Peuch, of the Lyons Veterinary School, states that in a case 

 of this description, he employed Schaack's method ; when the Cow was 

 placed on its back the obliquity disappeared spontaneously, and with the 

 greatest facility. 



Torsion of the Uterus: Contorsio Uteri. 



Torsion, or " twisting " of the gravid uterus on itself — and which often 

 involves not only the cervix of the organ, but also the vagina — is an ac- 

 cident unknown to the pregnant human female, but for anatomical rea^ 

 sons may occur in animals, and particularly in the Cow, in which it has 

 been most frequently observed. This accident is rare in the Mare ; it 

 has been observed in the Sheep and Goat, as well as i« the Cat ; but 

 though in the Sow and Bitch the uterine cornua may become displaced 

 and twisted on each other, and even become hernied by the broad liga- 

 ments, yet torsion of the uterus has not been noted in them, so far as 

 can be ascertained. 



We will first study the accident in the Cow, and afterwards in the 

 Mare and other animals. 



History. 



Though torsion of the uterus is now recognized as a serious, but not 

 insurmountable, obstacle to parturition, yet its existence may be said to 

 be of recent discovery ; for though it was clearly and explicitly indicated 

 in the last century by Boutrolle {Far/ait Bouvier, 2d edition, 1766), yet 

 it was not until after much observation and discussion in this century 

 that such a condition was proved to be possible. Boutrolle wrote: "If 

 it is possible to pass two or three fingers into the os {veliere), the hand 

 and arm may be forced through ; but if, on the contrary, a finger cannot 

 be passed into it, and the opening is found to be turning, it is a sign that 

 the OS is twisted — thai it has fnade a half-turn on itself- — and it is impos- 

 sible to enter it." 



Though Veterinary Science had gained a sound footing in France soon 

 after the publication of Boutrolle's " Perfect Cawherd," yet its students 

 do not appear to have paid any heed to the amateur's description of the 

 spiral twist of the cervix uteri, the difficulty in penetrating the os, and the 

 impossibility of birth taking place through it. Indifference or incredulity 

 may have prevailed ; and it was not until painful experience had awak- 

 ened attention to the existence of the accident, that the veterinarians of 

 this century began to notice it. 



Nevertheless, in France Boutrolle's " Cowherd " appears to have been 

 carefully read and usefully studied by those for whom it was written — 

 the countr}^- folks or cowmen, or he may have gained his knowledge from 

 these ; for, according to Saint-Cyr, one of their great problems in cases 



