DYSTOKIA BY DISPLACEMENT. 315 



Nevertheless, it has been remarked that this operation is not so easy 

 as one would be inclined to imagine it without testing it in practice. It 

 requires much force to raise and turn the foetus in this way ; and the con- 

 stricted and powerful uterine contractions are formidable obstacles to 

 the exercise of that force. 



Some Veterinarians, as Meyer and Losner, have succeeded in adjust- 

 ing a slightly twisted uterus by introducing the hands into the vagina, 

 and aided by assistants, who manipulated either with their hands or by 

 means of boards or sheets applied externally to the abdomen, so as to 

 set the organ straight. Of course, such attempts must be greatly pro- 

 moted if the foetus can be reached and used as an instrument in the 

 manner just alluded to. 



4. Denoc's Procedure. — Denoc appears to have been the first veteri- 

 narian who attempted reduction of this torsion by the simple means 

 stated above, but applied in such a manner as to merit the designation 

 of " original." His procedure marked a great step in advance, so far as 

 veterinary obstetrics are concerned. 



In 1845 he describes the case of a Cow {Reciieil de Med.- Veterinaire, 

 1845, p. 69) unable to calve, but whose os uteri was sufficiently dilated 

 to allow him to pass his hand into the uterus, where the foetus lay in a 

 good position, but from which it could not be expelled, owing to a wide 

 membranous fold extending from the cervix to the fundus of the organ. 



His manner of getting rid of the torsion consisted in suspending the 

 animal by a very narrow sack passed under its chest ; and two pulleys 

 having been fixed in the wall on the right side — one corresponding to 

 the fore limbs, the other to the hind ones — the fore legs were tied by a 

 cord which passed through the corresponding pulley, while the hind ones 

 were also secured by another cord running through the posterior pulley. 

 Five men were posted to the distal end of each of these cords, and di- 

 rected to pull. When this was done, the suspended Cow was swung 

 into a dorsal position. Then two strong men, placed on the left side, 

 were directed to push the animal's body to the right — a movement which 

 caused it suddenly to rotate. 



An exploration with the hand led to the discovery that the uterus had 

 changed its place, but that there was either a double torsion, or the in- 

 version of the animal had only incompletely turned the uterus, as the 

 duplicature was still present at the cervix. 



Another pull was given at the cords, and the previous manoeuvre re- 

 peated, and this time with a good effect, as. it was found that the ob- 

 structing fold had now vanished, and the uterus was in its ordinary posi- 

 tion. 



The Cow was then left alone, to await the result of its own expulsive 

 efforts ; but nothing having transpired after about an hour, a dose of 

 ergot of rye was administered. Another hour had not elapsed until 

 parturition was accomplished without the slightest difficulty, two calves 

 being born. 



5. Darreau's Procedure. — Denoc's method does not appear to have 

 been much practised, either because it was lost sight of, or was only 

 adapted for cases of very slight torsion ; and in view of the great diffi- 

 culty generally experienced in vaginal taxis — which is, after all, the most 

 reasonable, least dangerous, and perhaps the most convenient of all 



