3o8 



MATERNAL DYSTOKIA. 



On removing the intestines and the floor of the pelvis, the uterus and 

 vagina are exposed, and the torsion is visible. This appears as a large, 

 hard cord, composed apparently of a number of spiral strands of unequal 

 size, the closest twined of which are in the middle of the strangulation ; 

 this cord — formed by the termination of the vagina and the^ cervix and 

 body of the uterus — opens out its strands as it recedes from the densely- 

 twined portion towards the fundus of the uterus on one side, and to the 

 vagina on the other. 



The broad ligaments are sometimes compressed between the spiral 

 folds, which they concur to form, and with which they are so intimately 

 connected that very often they cannot be recognized until the uterus has 



Body of the Uterus ; 



Fig- 75- 

 Left Uterine Torsion ht situ. 

 Twisted cervix uteri; 3, Vagina ; 4, Left Fallopian Ligament. 



been untwisted. In other instances, they merely envelop the twist in 

 crossing it ; so that the extent of the torsion cannot be seen until the 

 ligaments are detached from the ilium on each side. 



Rarely, as we have remarked, are these ligaments ruptured ; and 

 though some veterinary authorities have maintained that torsion is impos- 

 sible without one or both being torn, yet we know that this lesion is 

 seldom witnessed. In the large majority of cases, they are tense and 

 greatly stretched, tightly compressing the cervix and rendering occlusion 

 of the OS all the more rigid ; but when the uterus is reinstated in its 

 natural relations, they are found to be intact. 



If the uterus be seized at its fundus, and turned in a direction con- 

 trary to that of the torsion, the strands of the latter gradually open, widen, 

 and are effaced ; while the strangulation disappears, the cervix comes 



