41 6 ^ FCETAL DYSTOKIA. 



Disease of the foetus itself, or maladies transmitted from the mother, 

 may play an active part in the production of anomalies and monstrosities. 



Frequency of Monstrosities. 



Monstrosities are far from being rare in the domesticated animals, but 

 they do not occur with the same frequency in all the species. Gurlt* 

 tabulates 740, which shows the proportion furnished by the different ani- 

 mals. This is as follows : — 



Ass 3 



Mule 3 



Goat 24 



Mare 56 



Cat 71 



Bitch 78 



Sow 87 



Ewe 179 



Cow 239 



Baumeister and Rueff mention that in the King of Wurtemberg's pri- 

 vate stud, of 2340 foals produced, there were only nine monstrosities, or 

 one abnormal to 260 normal foals. In the Hohenheim dairies, among 

 the Cows the monstrosities were only one-half per cent, (i per 200) ; 

 swine came next in frequency, then goats and sheep. Among the latter 

 there was only one monster in 768 lambs. 



Saint-Cyr collected 49 instances (not including hydrocephalic mon- 

 sters), which were apportioned in the following manner : — 



Cow 27 



Sheep and Goat - - - - 13 



Sow - 4 



Cat ------ 4 



Bitch ------ o 



Mare - i 



Though monstrosities are not rare m animals, yet all do not give rise to 

 difficult parturition ; for in some cases the deformity.does not interfere 

 at all with birth ; in others in which the deformity is of such a nature as 

 would impede delivery, birth often occurs prematurely when the foetus or 

 foetuses are small and soft ; while even when fully developed, double and 

 triple monstrosities have been occasionally born without assistance. 



Nevertheless, there is ample proof that triple, double, and even single 

 monstrosities, often require to be removed artificially, and may be pro- 

 ductive of serious consequences to the mother. These we will now allude 

 to. 



Distorted Monstrosities. 



The distorted monstrosities which Gurlt \i?is dQs\gx\2itQd Camyiorrhacchis 

 contorta, and which are characterized by abnormal situation and form of 

 different parts (Fig. 95), may occasionally, from their crooked shape, 

 prove a source of difficulty during birth. The distortion may be due 



* Pathol. Anatomic, vol. ii., p. 5. 



