D YSTOKIA B Y D ISP LA CEMENT. 



301 



In many instances, after a period varying from twelve to lorty-eight 

 hours, these symptoms may disappear, and the animal seems to have 

 recovered, for the time at least, its ordinary health. To such an extent 

 does this occur, that it might be believed the period of birth had not ar- 

 rived, and that the symptoms were only those of "false pains." 



In the course of from one to six days, however, this normal quietude is 

 interrupted by the recurrence of the labor pains, and in so urgent a form 

 that there can no longer be any doubt as to real attempts at delivery. 

 But still the efforts are not succeeded by any tangible evidence that birth 

 is making progress. As some obstacle to the expulsion of the foetus now 

 evidently intervenes, a manual examination will probably be made by the 

 veterinarian, if he has chanced to be called in, and after he has heard the 

 history of the case and noted the general symptoms. 



The oiled hand, on being introduced into the vagina, meets at first with 

 no obstacle in that canal ; but on advancing into it, the fingers soon en- 

 counter one or more folds or rugae, which render the passage more and 

 more constricted towards the cervix uteri. Towards the termination of 

 the vagina, the fingers reach a kind of cul-de-sac, formed by the mucous 

 folds, and which at this part converge in a spiral manner, their direction 

 being either to the right or left. Although at first there appears to be 

 no passage, yet it will be found that by turning the hand in the same 

 spiral direction as the cavity winds, or rather the rugae incline, the fingers 

 will be able to penetrate to a certain depth ; and if one of the most prom- 

 inent ridges be followed in this way, it will be discovered that it has a 

 cork-screw-like course. 



This is the pathognomonic or distinctive symptom of torsion of the 

 uterus, and it is not found in simple deviation or obliquity of the organ. 

 In the latter condition there is no spiral twisting or rugae, but merely a 

 fold of mucous membrane passing from behind forward, in an oblique 

 manner ; while the hand can be passed with little difficulty to the cervix, 

 the OS of which is usually found dilated. It is only this fold of membrane, 

 in uterine deviation, which prevents the passage of the foetus through the 

 OS, by hindering uniform pressure on the cervix. 



The kind of spiral infundibulum into which the hand penetrates in 



torsion of the uterus, varies in dimensions according to the amount of 



torsion. In the quarter-turn or revolution, it may be possible to get the 



hand into the constriction, though with difiiculty, and to reach so far as 



^to touch the neck of the uterus, which may be more or less dilated, and 



How the position of the foetus to be ascertained. In accomplishing this 



lanoeuvre, the fingers can feel a large salient spiral ring which becomes 



rider as the hand enters deeper into the organ, and which terminates in 



le cavity of the latter in a wide membranous, fan-like manner. If the 



torsion is to the left, this ring inclines to the right, and the membranous 



Jxpansion in the uterus is directed obliquely from right to left towards 



Hhe fundus of the organ. The spiral twist is in the direction of the tor- 



iion, and the uterus is carried towards the left flank. In torsion to the 



ight, the arrangement is the reverse of this. 



In the half-turn or revolution, occlusion is so marked that the fingers 



in scarcely be. made to enter the obstacle, and the cervix cannot be 

 Reached unless the torsion is beyond it. There are always two prominent 

 rings — two mucous folds which cross each other, but which, as they recede 

 Erom the torsion, become wider apart and spread like a fan. We shall 

 investigate the character of this twist hereafter. 



