DISEASES OF THE FCETUS. 383 



occur, however, in which development is arrested ; as in some mentioned 

 by Lecoq, of hydrocephalic Calves, in which the limbs were atrophied 

 and the bones of these cartilaginous. 



If intra-uterine existence can be maintained by the hydrocephalic 

 foetus until the period of parturition, it generally perishes during birth or 

 soon after — usually after one or two respirations. In some exceptional 

 cases, however, such creatures have lived to the eighth day after birth, 

 and, as Saint-Cyr remarks, they might survive even longer if the dropsy 

 is not very extensive. 



In the most favorable cases, nevertheless, there is little profit to be 

 expected from keeping such animals alive, as they are ordinarily week 

 and thrive badly ; they can rarely stand, and they refuse the teat, being 

 usually in a semi-comatose state ; if the tumor chances to he pressed 

 upon, the young creature becomes completely unconscious and lies in 

 convulsions. 



Very few cases of recovery, even in the mildest form of the malady, 

 are recorded. 



Dystokia. 



The obstacle this congenital condition of the foetus presents during 

 birth, must, of course, depend upon the volume of the cranial tumor. 

 The birth of a hydrocephalic fcetus often takes place spontaneously, 

 though perhaps only after much straining. If the cranium is not very 

 large, and provided the labor pains are sufficiently energetic and the 

 position favorable, the tumor yields, and the head becomes elongated 

 in its passage through the os and the pelvis, or it may rupture internally 

 and the fluid escape by the ears, nostrils, and eyes. When extremely 

 large, the cranium may offer an invincible obstacle to spontaneous de- 

 livery, notwithstanding the most powerful labor pains. 



And, besides, the mechanism of parturition in such cases varies with 

 the presentation — anterior or posterior. The head of the hydrocephalic 

 foetus being more or less spherical — instead of conical, as in the normal 

 condition — it results that this part, when the young creature is pressed 

 upon by the uterus, no longer acts as a wedge to gradually dilate the os 

 uteri. The head certainly commences the work of dilatation, but in a 

 very incomplete manner, and when the jaws — particularly the upper one 

 — have cleared the os, further progress is checked by the voluminous 

 .forehead. If the hand is introduced into the vagina, the cervix uteri is 

 found to be contracted on the nose or jaws of the foetus ; and the delay 

 in further expulsion depends upon the size of the cranium, the protrusion 

 of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, and the exhaustion of the organ by 

 futile contractions. 



In the posterior presentation, birth takes place in the manner already 

 described ; the hinder extremities advance through the os, then the body 

 and neck, and birth is apparently takin'g place satisfactorily until the head 

 reaches this aperture, when further advancment is stopped — the resistance 

 to expulsion being in proportion to the volume of the head. 



Not unfrequently, with such a condition of the fcetus, we have also a 

 malposition to complicate matters. 



Diagnosis, 

 In the anterior position, there is not riiuch difficulty in diagnosing the 

 presence of hydrocephalus : as the hand can feel the voluminous spherical 



