294 



MATERNAL DYSTOKIA. 



Coquet, and many other foreign Veterinarians ; while it is alluded to 

 with more or less detail in the treaties of Rainard, Baumeister and Rueff, 

 Ziirn, Harms, Lanzillotti-Buonsanti, Cruzel, Saint-Cyr, etc. 



In this country it has not received much attention, if we are to judge 

 from the paucity of allusions to it ; though there can be no doubt that the 

 accident frequently occurs. Beyond a few notices from the pen of Car- 

 lisle, Cartwright (of Whitchurch), Woods (Wigan), Bennet, and Captain 

 Russell, little more is recorded. These observations only refer to torsion 

 of the uterus in the Cow. No observer in this country has noticed its 

 occurrence in other animals, except Cox. 



With the Mare, in which the accident is nearly always fatal, it has been 

 witnessed by Belhomme, Elsen, Delwart, Hamon, Noll, Devaux, Canu, 

 Leconte, Schmidt, and Cox. 



In the Cat, it has been observed by Vivier. 



Nature and Freqiieficy. 



Before proceeding to describe the symptoms and other features of this 

 curious accident, it may be well to inquire into its nature and frequency. 



As the designation indicates, the accident consists in a rotation of the 

 uterus on its axis, by which its upper surface may successively become 

 lateral and inferior ; and lateral on the opposite side and superior, when 

 the revolution is complete. This revolution may take place in two 

 opposite directions ; the upper face may at first be left lateral or I'ight 

 lateral — the first constituting left torsion, the second right torsion. 



I'orsion may be incomplete or cofnplete. There may be quarter-torsion^ 

 half -torsion, three-quarter torsion, or complete torsion, according to the degree 

 of rotation the uterus has experienced. In those instances in which the 

 organ has made two complete turns, we have a double torsion. 



The consequences of this rotation are easily seen. The vagina and its 

 prolongation — the cervix uteri — because of their attachments, cannot 

 follow the uterus, and therefore become twisted in a cord-like manner ; 

 whence arises stricture of the os — the constriction being all the greater as 

 the rotation is complete — and utter impossibility to effect delivery of the 

 foetus unless the uterus is replaced in its normal position, or its contents 

 are removed otherwise than through the os. 



Incomplete torsion is by far- the most frequent form encountered in 

 practice. It is often so slight that it might rather be classed among the 

 deviations of the uterus already alluded to. For instance, very frequently 

 there is only a trifling displacement of the cornu containing the foetus, 

 and this may carry the uterus with it, giving rise to a condition which bears 

 a certain analogy to the uterine obliquity met with in woman, in which 

 the organ is inclined laterally. Schaack, Rainard^ Weiss, and Zundel 

 have often noted these cases in animals ; and the latter states that they 

 occur in largest proportion among the larger lymphatic Cows. In other 

 instances, the torsion consists in a quarter or half-turn, the upper face of 

 the uterus having become lateral or inferior ; sometimes the gravid cornu 

 comes to occupy the inferior region of the abdomen ; and at other times, 

 making a ,wider rotation, it is lodged in the opposite flank. 



There are scarcely any means in practice by which we can estimate, 

 with mathematical exactness, the degree of torsion to which the uterus 

 may have been submitted ; as what we have designated a quarter-turn or 

 revolution only signifies that the organ has made a rotation of 90°, while 



