472 FCETAL DYSrOKIA. 



The fore feet were corded, the hind ones attempted to be pushed back and the head 

 brought straight ; but without success. Version was tried, but failed, and embryotomy 

 had to be adopted. The Mare, however, died in an hour after the operation. The rec- 

 tal mesentery was discovered to be ruptured, there was blood in the abdominal cavity, 

 and two small lacerations towards the neck of the uterus. 



In a second case the head also complicated the deviation ; embryotomy w as resorted 

 to, and the mother- survived. 



7. Dus [Recneil de Med- Veterinaire, 1876, p. 11 50) points out that in those cases in 

 which there is deviation of one or both of the hind feet in the pelvis and the head 'is 

 turned towards the side, it is better, with the Mare, to attempt extraction by making 

 the presentation a posterior one ; for though it may be possible to readjust the head 

 and neck of a calf and afterwards extract it, yet with the foal there are great difficulties, 

 and particularly in those cases in which the violent contractions of the uterus are op- 

 posed to the introduction of the arm of the operator. He gives two instances, almost 

 identical in their circumstances, in which he was able to deliver foals without very great 

 difficulty, and also indicates how rupture of the uterus from amputated limbs may be 

 prevented. His first case was a six-year-old Mare in labor only three hours. It was 

 lying on its sternum, and making violent expulsive efforts from time to time. Getting 

 it up and securing it, Dus found that the foal was in the anterior presentation, vertebro- 

 sacral position, the fore limbs well placed and projecting beyond the vulva as far as the' 

 knees ; the neck, however, was bent to the left and the head inaccessible to the hand ; 

 one of the hind limbs had cleared the neck of the uterus, but lay alongside the left 

 shoulder, and jammed against the right side of the vagina, the hoof being directed up- 

 wards, backwards, and to the right. The uterine contractions were so powerful that the 

 organ was closely moulded on the foetus, and it was impossible to introduce the arm 

 beyond a certain limit. It was therefore determined not to attempt adjusting the head 

 and neck ; though at first it was the intention to extract the foal by vigorous traction on 

 the fore limbs by a large number of assistants, and to do this the' hind leg in the pelvis 

 must at least have been pushed back. The latter operation, however, could not be ac- 

 complished, as the limb was so rigid that, like a spring, it resumed its position as soon 

 almost as it was displaced. It was then deemed advisable to resort to version, and to 

 attempt delivery by the breech. After amputating the fore legs at the knee, and having 

 pushed them into the uterus. — where they lodged in the right flank, not far from the 

 pelvis, the end of the radius upwards, — they were kept in place by an improvised re- 

 peller (a short blunt stable-fork), which pressed strongly against the nearest fore arm 

 close to the shoulder, to the right and a little downwards ; several men at the same time 

 pulled at the cords fixed on the pastern of the engaged hind leg. As the traction 

 brought this limb outward, it turned first sideways, the hock to the left, then upwards, 

 as in a normal presentation. 



The efforts ceasing, an examination was now made ; when it was found that the 

 fore limbs were still towards the right flank, the stumps directed upwards, though the 

 croup was much nearer the pelvis, so that it was easy now to trace the course of the 

 hind limb which had been pulled be3^ond the vulva as far as the hock ; this was the 

 right limb ; the left could be reached by the hand, and was nearly vertical, semiflexed, 

 inclined to the right, the foot resting on the belly, towards the mammae. After several 

 very arduous attempts, it was possible to seize this limb by the hock, and, pushing it 

 forwards and to the left, to pass the hand to the shank •, but it was only after most 

 fatiguing efforts that the foot could be reached. This was pulled into the vagina, and a 

 cord being passed round the pastern, the limb was drawn alongside its fellow. The croup 

 now being in the pelvis, nothing more remained to be done but to pull steadily on the 

 two hind limbs, and birth was very easily effected. No sooner, however, had the foal 

 been extracted than the Mare became dull and indifferent to every thing around it ; it 

 would neither eat nor drink , the expression was anxious and the flanks greatly agitated. 

 These .symptoms indicated an internal injury, and in a few hours the animal .succumbed 

 after considerable haemorrhage from the uteru.s. There was a rupture of the organ, 

 and Dus shows that this fatal injury was caused by the stump of the fore limb against 

 which the repeller was pressed, and that it might have been averted had he amputated 

 these limbs nearer the trunk, or if he had torn them off altogether after skinning the 

 fore arm and dividing the pectoral muscles. 



In the following example, he testifies that when the hind limbs preserve their flexi- 

 bility, it is not necessary to have recourse to this complicated operation to extract the 

 foetus, without danger to the mother. 



He was called to see a Mare which had been for some hours attempting to foal. 

 Three of the foal's feet were visible externally, but no head : two fore limbs protruded 

 as far as the knees, and the hoof of a hind foot could be distinguished — the plantar 

 surface being upwards — the other hind limb was found at the bottom of the vagina. 



