DISEASES OF THE FCETUS. 



379 



in order to divide it ; and the uterine contractions, as well as the artificial 

 traction, tend to tighten the funis around the neck. 



In the human species, it has often been remarked that children are 

 sometimes born with their limbs deficient, and the spontaneous amputa- 

 tion has been attributed to the constriction produced by this coiling or 

 twisting of the umbilical cord around the part, during the development of 

 the foetus. Vrolig, Hillairet, and Goubaux have recorded similar muti- 

 lations in animals. 



Indications. 



When coiling of the funis is ascertained to be the cause of difficult 

 parturition, the indications are to uncoil it ; or if this cannot be effected, 

 then it must be divided either by the fingers, scissors, or a probe-pointed 

 bistoury — hastening delivery as much as possible afterwards. 



There is not much to be feared from haemorrhage after section of the 

 vessels, as they seldom bleed. 



CHAPTER II. 

 Diseases of the Foetus. 



While in the uterus the foetus may be affected with disease, which, 

 causing its death, will lead to abortion or premature expulsion, or perhaps 

 undue retention. Other abnormal conditions, more or less allied to 

 disease, may give rise to vicious conformation or excess of volume, 

 generally or locally, and thus prove a cause of difficult parturition 

 These conditions may produce hydrocephalus, ascites and anasarca, em- 

 physema, polysarcia, muscular contractions, and tumors of various kinds. 



Hydrocephalus. 



As the term implies, " hydrocephalus " signifies dropsy of the brain, 

 the dropsy being constituted by the accumulation of a more or less 

 considerable quantity of fluid in the cranium of the foetus, leading to a 

 proportionate enlargement of that region. 



This diseased condition is not at all uncommon in the bovine and 

 equine species, and some of the specimens of craniums found in mu- 

 seums are wonderfully deformed, through the accumulation of fluid in 

 their interior. 



Pathological Anatomy. 



This diseased condition is recognized by a more or less exaggerated 

 development or volume of the cranium, the vault of which has been 

 elevated and distended by the fluid collected in the brain ventricles. 



In some cases, the distention has been so slight that the frontal bones 

 are not much raised ; while in others the collection of serum has been so 

 great that these and other bones of the cranium are displaced, and the 

 forehead, rising almost at right angles to the face, suddenly reaches an 

 extraordinary height, giving the creature a startling appearance. The 

 hydrocephalic tumor varies in figure as well as in volume. It is some- 

 times quite globular, and protrudes so high and so much over the face as 

 to give the physiognomy a strangely human appearance (Fig. 81) ; in 

 rare cases it is narrow, but excessively protuberant, involving only a part 



