528 



OBSTETRIC OPERATIONS. 



force be developed by them, but this force maybe diminished or increased 

 at will, and as gradually as the circumstances may require. In this 

 direction, though the windlass, capstan, or wheel may be utilized, yet, 

 for convenience in application, portability, and steady graduated traction, 

 nothing can approach the light obstetric pulley, the manner of using 

 which is shown in the annexed drawing (Fig. 183). 



When very powerful traction is required, whether manual or machine, 

 there is the risk — particularly if the animal is standing — of dragging it 

 backwards until it falls, or doing it some injury, unless the precaution is 

 adopted of fixing it in some way. It is obvious that there is great danger 

 — indeed cruelty — in attaching it merely by the head or neck, and allow- 

 ing these to bear all the strain. It is necessary to render the creature 

 immovable, by passing cords, bands, or a sack behind the thighs and 

 above the hocks, bringing the ends towards the animal's shoulders, and 

 maintaining them there either by assistants, or to the manger or any 

 other part sufficiently strong, in the direction of the creature's head. A 



Fig. 183. 

 Obstetric Pulleys. 



wooden bar, placed behind the thighs, and secured to the stall-posts, is 

 also serviceable ; as is also an ordinary harness breeching, the front 

 parts being secured to rings in the wall or manger. In some cases, 

 vigorous assistants, placing their back against the haunches of the animal, 

 will offer sufficient resistance to its displacement. Many practitioners 

 prefer throwing the animal down, if it is standing, in order to avoid the 

 dangers of being dragged ; Schaack even asserts that the body lying on 

 the ground increases the expulsive efforts, and keeps the foetus in the 

 plane of the pelvis. Donnarieix is not afraid of seeing the animal dragged 

 a little, and recommends that the traction should not cease in conse- 

 quence. Nevertheless, during the decubitus, the operator is more quickly 

 fatigued, besides being restrained in his movements ; the necessary 

 manoeuvres are more difficult to perform, and the weight of the fcetus 

 is often an additional obstacle. And even when the creature is lying, if 

 the traction is very strong, it is often necessary to prevent the body being 

 drawn backwards. 



All these inconveniences being recognized by Baron, in 1858 he intro- 

 duced an obstetrical machine — an apparatus for producing sustained 

 traction {appareil d tradmi soutenue) in the extraction of the foetus. This 

 apparatus presses against the hind-quarters of the parturient animal, and 

 owing to its construction it cannot only develop a very energetic extrac- 

 tive force in the gentlest and most inoffensive way possible, but itself 

 produces the counter-extension in an exacdy proportionate degree. 



