DYSTOKIA BY DISPLACEMENT. 293 



contains Lecoq's account. From his narrative, it appears that he was 

 consulted by one of his colleagues with regard to a Cow, the cervix of 

 whose uterus was so twisted that a finger could not enter the os. Mazure 

 gave an unfavorable prognosis ; but, notwithstanding, it was attempted to 

 reduce the torsion by making an opening in the right flank in order to 

 reach the uterus. The attempt failed, though it demonstrated that there 

 was a quantity of foetid serosity and fibrinous flakes in the peritoneal 

 cavity ; that the uterus had a rupture in its left posterior border, the rent 

 being rounded in form and had a diameter of from twenty to twenty-four 

 centimetres ; and that the foetus was dead, as had been suspected. 



As nothing more could be done with the Cow, it was destroyed, and it 

 was then discovered that the uterus had made a complete revolution 

 on its axis j while towards the part adjoining the cervix, there were 

 found five spiral twists, two of which, more voluminous than the others, 

 were of a greyish color and hard in texture. Throughout the whole 

 extent of these twists in the uterus, the connective tissue, infiltrated with 

 serosity, formed a swelling which rendered the dilatation of the posterior 

 part, and the passage of the calf through it, most difficult. The foetus 

 was perfectly developed and intact, and did not appear to have been dead 

 more than two or three days. 



Another Norman Veterinarian, Pouchy, describes four cases, about the 

 same period. These Cows merely suffered from loss of appetite, great 

 distention of the abdomen, unhealthy-looking coat, a foetid and sanguino- 

 lent vaginal discharge, and suppression of milk, for six to eight weeks ; 

 when submitted to treatment, and turned out to pasture, they recovered 

 sufficiently to become fit for the butcher. 



In Germany, about the same time, torsion of the uterus had been the 

 subject of investigation and treatment by Dieterichs and Schmidt of 

 Bavaria, Vix of Giessen, Fricke of Hanover, and Irminger and Schenker 

 of Switzerland. Fricke cured a case by fastening the feet together, two 

 by two, and rolling the animal in a contrary direction to that in which the 

 uterus was twisted. 



In Britain nothing appears to have been noticed of this accident until 

 1840, when Mr. Carlisle, of Wigton, under the head of " Csesarean Opera- 

 tion " ( Veterinarian^ vol. xiii., p. 407), describes an undoubted case of 

 torsion. The circumstance which rendered the operation necessary, was 

 a severe injury the animal had received two days previously, since when 

 it had manifested symptoms of parturition ; but though several attempts 

 had been made to extract the foetus, delivery could not be accomplished 

 owing to the uterus being twisted. Caesarean section having delivered 

 the calf and its membranes, the Cow only lived a short time. The uterus 

 was found to be " completely rotated, even to the termination of the 

 vagina." 



After this period, torsion of the uterus attracted a large share of at- 

 tention among the most accomplished Continental Veterinarians, and 

 particularly after the observations published by Denoc, in France, in 

 1845. It formed the subject of animated and interesting discussions at 

 the Belgian Socie'te de Medicine, the Socie'te' Central de Med. Ve'terinaire 

 of Paris in 1853 and i860, the Veterinary Society of Wurtemberg in 1854, 

 and that of Denmark in 1855 ; and memoirs on it have b.een published 

 by Bordonnat, Rossignol, Gaven, Bouley, Canu, Lemaire, Chambon, 

 Goubaux, Chauveau, Weber, Liautard, Dagoureau, Lessona, Ollivero, 

 Ercolani, Lafosse, Chuchu, Goron, Obig, Heu, Rocco, Marlot, Gourcy, 



