426 FCETAL DYSTOKIA. 



With Monocephalic monstrosities, of course the head and neck are not 

 interfered with, only the body and limbs requiring attention. 



When the presentation is posterior, the procedure must be carried out 

 in a similar manner ; but in all cases the task is a long and fatiguing 

 one, and the tax upon the endurance and sensibilities of the mother is 

 heavy indeed. 



The examples of such monstrosities occasioning dystokia are not nu- 

 merous ; in English veterinary literature we can only discover two. 



I. Carlisle {Veterinarian, vol. xiii., p. 405) was called to assist in delivering a Cow, the 

 peculiar formation and monstroiisness of the calf preventing birth. The foetus was pre- 

 senting two feet and a tail, but its position could not be made out, three hind legs and 

 two tails being discovered ; two of the legs were in the vjigina, with one tail ; the other 

 leg was articulated with the superior part of the pelvis, and lay over the back. The 

 body seemed to be large, and changing its position or extracting it was deemed impossible. 

 The Caesarean section was proposed, but the Cow was too weak to undergo such a formid- 

 able operation ; so embryotomy was decided upon. " I introduced an instrument re- 

 sembling a short strong bistoury, guarded by my finger and thumb, with its handle rest- 

 ing on the palm of my hand. I commenced my dissection at the rectum, cutting down- 

 wards, severing the symphysis pubis, and dilating the opening as much as possible. I 

 succeeded in removing the abdominal viscera, and part of the contents of the thorax. I 

 next crushed in the ribs ; by so doing I was able to remove the double pelvis and the hind 

 legs. We now gained a favorable position, and from our conjoint efforts we brought to 

 light one of the most singular formations ever witnessed. The animal had two heads, 

 seven legs, and nine feet ; two spines and two tails — one emerging from the termination 

 of each spine ; also a double number of ribs. The ribs were given off from the superior 

 and inferior spine, and met at the middle of the sides, forming only one cavity. There 

 was a trachea and oesophagus to each head, and these united near to their termination in 

 the lungs and stomach. The hind leg, which articulated with the superior parts of the 

 ossa innominata, was double from the hock, and at its termination were three distinct 

 feet, perfectly developed. The organs within the thorax and abdomen were single, ex- 

 cept that at the termination of the colon the intestine was bifid, forming two rectums, 

 which terminated under each tail. When the creature was placed in a standing position, 

 the two fore legs which grew from the inferior spine pointed upwards over the shoulders 

 of the outer fore legs. In all, as I have stated, there were four fore legs, three hind 

 ones, and nine feet. The umbilical cord entered the abdomen on the side, at the union 

 of tlie ribs." This, it will be perceived, was a inoitoi7iphalian monstrosity — Gurlt's 

 Cephalo-cormodidiytnus. 



2. Cartwright {Ibid., vol. ix., p. 619) describes a monocephalous monstrosity, which was 

 extracted by the natural force of fifteen men and the empiric who superintended them. 

 Four hours were occupied in the extraction. The presentation was anterior, and the 

 calf was born naturally as far as the middle of the body. The uterus of the Cow be- 

 came prolapsed soon after, and a farrier attempting to return it, injured it so much that 

 the animal had to be killed. 



3. Jannee, a Belgian Veterinary Surgeon {Journal de Med. Veteri7taire de Lyon, 1851, 

 p. 311), extracted a double monster from a Mare ; the latter survived. 



4. Olivier {Ibid., 1847, p. 422) describes the birth of a monocephalous foetus, which 

 presented posteriorly, back upwards. Two hind feet had passed through the vulva ; 

 these were pulled at, and this, with the efforts of the mother, brought two other hind 

 feet into view. As nothing more could be done by traction, embryotomy was practised. 



■ 5. Saint-Cyr {Op. cit., p. 432) received the body of a monocephalous lamb which had 

 been taken from a Ewe three years old, and which had, without much difficulty, pro- 

 duced three well-formed lambs, then this monstrosity. The expulsion of the latter was 

 not very troublesome ; the presentation was anterior, position vertebro-sacral. As it 

 was a little slow in being born, slight traction brought it away. It was alive before par- 

 turition was completed, but was dead when born. 



6. Franck {Op. cit., p. 438) alludes to a Cow which "liad an extremely pendulous abdo- 

 men, and could not calve. An examination discovered four hind feet in the genital 

 passage ; so it was surmised that the deep abdomen could not be altogether the cause, 

 and various attempts were made at delivery ; but these only resulted in producing tume- 

 faction of the parturient canal, and a closer examination was consequently rendered 

 impracticable. Franck thought the case was one of twins, and tried to extract one of 

 them by a pair of the presenting feet. But as this was impossible, and every other at- 

 tempt failed, the Cow was killed, without embryotomy having been resorted to. The 



