EXCESS IN VOLUME OF THE FCETUS. 371 



the market. He therefore, in the summer of 1804, hired some large 

 Kentish rams, in order to give size to his flock. In the following lamb- 

 ing season he lost twelve Ewes, from the immense size of the lambs' 

 heads, and he was obliged to " draw " (extract artificially) nearly all his 

 Ewe lambs. In 1806 he had the same difficulty, and lost nine Ewes 

 in a flock of two hundred and fifty from this cause. 



Mr. Cartwright (Whitchurch) casually states that he has frequently 

 known of some bulls " getting calves with very large heads, and causing 

 great difficulty in calving; and the owners, finding what trouble there 

 was at calving-time, and the danger of losing their Cows, have sold them, 

 and obtained others whose breed had not this objection." 



Rueff and Baumeister {Op. cit., p. 247), in alluding to this subject, re- 

 mark that in the bovine species it is nearly always the head which forms 

 the chief obstacle to birth ; and they refer for proof of this statement to 

 the small native Cows of Wurtemberg, which, when crossed by the Origi- 

 nal Simmenthalern Bull, have often difficult labor, as the latter breed has 

 often a large head. 



And Schaack writes to Saint-Cyr, stating that for thirty years the Cows 

 in the district of Lyons were all put to a Bull remarkable for its massive 

 framework. The head especially was very developed, and as the animal 

 transmitted this conformation to nearly the whole of its progeny, the size 

 of the head of the foetus very often rendered parturition difficult. 



Breeding from immature undeveloped animals is almost certain to pro- 

 duce laborious births ; and the reason for this is not difficult to find : the 

 genital canal, and particularly the pelvis, is not sufficiently developed for 

 the passage of the foetus. A very striking instance of this, as well as of 

 very remarkable precocity in the bovine species, is given by Mr. Barker 

 (^Veterinary jFournal^ November, 1876). We will give the case in his own 

 words : 



" On the 14th of May, I was requested by the bailiff of Greenshills Farm to go and 

 assist or deliver a young Cow of a calf, this Cow being the property of J. T. Wharton, 

 Esq. 



" On arrival, I found the smallest animal to be a mother that ever T witnessed or heard 

 of. This creature, a black-polled Scot, nine days short of one year old, had made per- 

 fect preparation for parturition, and there was one fore-foot of the foetus projecting 

 about two inches from the vulva. 



" On inquiry, the bailiff told me that she had been accidentally ' bulled ' when she was 

 ten weeks and five days old, while sucking her mother ; the Bull of the same breed going 

 with the herd of Cows, the calves of which were all allowed to suck their mothers so long 

 as they chose. 



" The above statement to many may seem incredible, as it did to a neighboring eye- 

 witness, who was asked to give a little assistance in pulling the calf away ; for although 

 he saw the calf's foot projecting, he remarked that he could hardly believe his own 

 eyes, and asked me if I did not think that the Bull (the father of the mother) had got two 

 calves at once, one within the other — as the mother was only a calf herself. 



" On examining her, I found the other fore-foot and head back in the uterus, and the 

 calf dead. I therefore corded the projecting foot and thrust it back, and, with difficulty, 

 corded the other foot and brought it forward as far as I could ; then I returned both 

 feet and corded the lower jaw. After manipulating a short time, I succeeded in getting 

 both fore-legs and head straight, when I met with a great obstacle — viz., the pelvic 

 orifice being by far too small to admit the legs and head together, one leg filling the 

 vaginal canal almost completely. I at once allowed the head and one leg to fall back, 

 and introduced an embryotomy knife, with which I skinned the leg, and divided it from 

 the trunk with the scapula. I then brought the next one, and divided it in the same way, 

 except having to leave the scapula, owing to so little room to work in ; and the calf 

 having only died about an hour before, the muscles, etc., were very strong and difficult 

 to sever without using very great traction. After the above reduction, I again 

 corded the lower jaw, which tad slipped, and essayed to bring the head forward ; but 



