DISEASES OF THE FOETUS. 387 



With regard to anasarca, Noyes (Rainard, Op. ctt., p. 476) has witnessed 

 a number of cases of general anasarca in the course of a year, in the nfeigh- 

 borhood of Mirepoix, France. He states that the calves were born at 

 least three weeks before their time, and always dead. The connective 

 tissue of the entire body — from the head to the croup — was infiltrated 

 with serum, the young creatures being double or treble the size of ordi- 

 nary calves ; the head especially was enormously large. During preg- 

 nancy the abdomen of the Cows was so developed, that their owners 

 thought they were bearing twin calves. 



Que'tier has published details of analogous cases of general infiltra- 

 tion, in which the foetus was at least twice its natural size. 



This condition has been witnessed in the foetus of the Mare by Pauli 

 (Gurlt and Hertwig's Magazin, vol. viii.), and by Lehnhardt {Ibid., vol. 

 ix.) and Herran {Journal de Vet. du Alidu 1864) in the Goat. The lat- 

 ter authority made an autopsy of a Goat which had died from injuries in- 

 flicted on its head, and found in it twin foetuses, whose body was com- 

 pletely infiltrated. 



Cause. 



The cause of this dropsical condition is not well ascertained. In some 

 cases it may be due to uterine dropsy of the mother or to constitutional 

 hydraemia ; but in other instances it cannot be so, as the mother is in 

 good health, and it would then appear to be owing to derangement of the 

 foetal circulation, and particularly of the venous system — probably conges- 

 tion of the umbilical cord. At times, disease of such organs as the kid- 

 neys may produce it. 



Arloing informed Saint-Cyr [Op. cit.^ p. 544) that Guilhempey, veterinary surgeon at 

 Cologne (Gers), met with tliree cases of foetal ascites which proved a cause of dystokia 

 in the Cow. The foetus in each case was in the normal position (vetebro-sacral of the 

 anterior presentation) ; but though the feet were in the vagina, delivery could not be 

 effected, notwithstanding the most skilful and energetic traction. In the first- cases, 

 after many difficulties and much examination, it was ascertained that the abdomen of the 

 foetus was enormously distended; and at the moment the mother strained, or when trac- 

 tion was made, this region seemed to divide into two masses, separated by the spins of 

 the young creature. Recognizing it as a case of ascites, the abdomen was punctured by 

 means of a long knife, the blade of which was guarded with tow except at the point ; a 

 great quantity of fluid escaped, and the mother then straining violently, delivery was 

 effected. The second case was of a similar character, and in the third case, though 

 puncture diminished the difficulty, yet it did not permit it to be entirely overcome, as in 

 the others. This was because, in addition to the ascites, there was hypertrophy of the 

 liver and kidneys. One of the latter weighed nearly eighty-two ounces (2,300 grammes), 

 the other about seventy ounces (1,990 grammes) ; the liver weighed ninety-two ounces. 

 The peritoneum was thickened, and showed traces of chronic inflammation. One of the 

 kidneys sent to Arloing for examination weighed only fifty-six ounces, but a large quan- 

 tity of blood had escaped from it into the vessel in which it had been carried. It ap- 

 peared to be five or six times larger than the kidney of a calf ready for the butcher, and 

 its surface still allowed its usual lobulated arrangement to be seen. Its proper capsule, 

 covered by its thickened peritoneal envelope, was easily removed, and beneath it ap- 

 peared a great number of somewhat translucid greyish points. On section through the 

 middle, the two structures of the kidney were distinguishable, but their tint was pale ; 

 everywhere, but more particularly in the cortical substance, were observed the greyish 

 points, the contents of which could be readily removed, leaving a small cavity in their 

 place. After hardening in chromic acid, sections were made, when the greyish points, 

 on being submitted to microscopic examination, appeared to be so many kysts filled with 

 the d}bris of epithelium from the uriniferous tubes. 



The connective stroma was also hypertrophied, and particularly abundant in the neigh- 

 borhood of the papillae. 



This \vas evidently a case of kystoid degeneration of the kidney, from atresia of the 

 papillse — a kind of degeneration observed in the human species, and described in Vir- 

 chow's " Pathology of Tumors." 



