DYSTOKIA BY DISPLACEMENT. • 297 



become greatly increased in substance and length. As gestation ad- 

 vances, nearly the whole of the great size of the uterus is due to the 

 development of the one horn in which the foetus is situated ; and as the 

 other horn retains its normal size, the twisting of this around its 

 ligament, and consequent torsion of the cervix, can be readily understood. 



Such in the explanation of the accident given by Chauveau ; but Gou- 

 baux does not quite assent to it. According to him, it is not because 

 one horn of the uterus is developed more than another, neither is it owing 

 to one of the broad ligaments being longer than its fellow ; it is in con- 

 sequence^of the development of the cornua during gestation, and their 

 projecting greatly beyond their means of attachment or suspension,' the 

 broad ligaments being thrown altogether back. During pregnancy the 

 cornua are considerably lengthened, while the ligaments do not increase 

 in breadth, their points of attachment to the inner face of the flank or the 

 ilium remaining invariably the same. This projection of the gravid cornu 

 beyond the broad ligament supporting it — and which may be as much as 

 nearly two feet — must render the production of the torsion remarkably 

 easy. We have shown that the uterus is suspended in its ligaments as in 

 a hammock, and if these ligaments increased in width as the gravid organ 

 is developed in size, so as not to be overlapped by the cornua, then it 

 might to a certain extent roll about in the hammock, but could not twist 

 around it. Even if the uterus was suspended at the extremity of the 

 ligaments, as in the Mare, it would be far less liable to torsion, and would 

 swing in the abdomen like a kind of pendulum. 



As it is, the projection of the gravid uterus beyond its means of suspen- 

 sion, the peculiar attachment of the broad ligaments to the lower face and 

 concave border of the cornua, and a large proportion of the weight being 

 situated high above and in front of these ligaments — all this makes us 

 comprehend how a shock of any kind may throw the organ off its ham- 

 mock, and produce incomplete, or even complete, torsion in the pregnant 

 Cow without rupturing the hammock itself. , 



Rueff and Ercolani have witnessed cases in which the torsion was con- 

 fined to the gravid cornu ; and Stockfleth mentions its occurrence in the 

 body of the uterus, in front of the cervix. Most frequently, however, it 

 involves the vagina, as well as the cervix and body of the organ. 



In certain cases, alluded to by Zundel, the accident has been accom- 

 panied by rupture of the ligaments ; and instances are recorded by Dense 

 and Albrecht in which the rupture has extended to the uterus itself. 

 Rueff alludes to a case in which the foetus had even escaped into the 

 abdominal cavity from a uterus thus ruptured, and, developing in the 

 peritoneal sac, constituted an extra-uterine pregnancy. 



With regard to the direction of the torsion, several authorities have 

 maintained that it takes place from left to right. Others, however, have 

 found it to be in the contrary direction, and there appears to be no reason 

 why it should occur in one way more than another, as the foetus is devel- 

 oped in either cornu irrespectiveh'. Reynal, however, believes that the 

 obliquity of the inner face of the rumen might dispose the uterus to 

 torsion towards the right. Chauveau is, we think, justified in asserting 

 that torsion always takes place inwards and upwards — the foetus slipping 

 off its hammock causes this to swing round either to the right or left. 



The relative unfrequency of this occurrence in the other domesticated 

 animals, is undoubtedly owing to the different arrangement of the uterus 

 and its suspensory ligaments. 



