538 OBSTETRIC OPERATIONS. 



Margraff's " Stemmeisen," or chisel, is not unlike a joiner's chisel in 

 shape \ the instrument itself is seven or eight inches long, and at its cut- 

 ting edge (end), which is very sharp, is an inch to inch-and-quarter broad. 

 The sides are well rounded, and the instrument gradualy tapers as it 

 reaches the handle, into which it is fixed. This handle is a round piece 

 of hard wood about three feet long and about two inches in diameter, 

 with a ferule at the end into which the chisel is fixed, as in the ordinary 

 carpenter's chisel. The cutting end of the instrument is carried by the 

 right or left hand to the part of the foetus to be incised, while the handle 

 is held by the other hand. The two hands can in this way be employed : 

 that in the uterus guiding the movements of the chisel, while that holding 

 the handle applies the necessary force. This simple instrument has been 

 found most serviceable in dividing the vertebrae when the body of the 

 foetus had to be bisected, dividing the head or, in double-headed mon- 

 strosities, the two heads ; as well as slitting up the skin. It has been 

 well suggested that if the cutting edge was made slightly concave the 

 chisel would be more useful. 



For the same purpose a saw has been proposed. Such an article has 

 been successfully employed when the occasion demanded it. Cartwright's 

 saw is shown in the annexed figure (194). The stalk (of iron) is sixteen 

 inches in length, the saw four inches long, and the handle six inches. 

 The saw-blade should be of the same thick,ness throughout, the end and 

 back being well-rounded and smooth. 



Sjostedt {Handbok i Forlossnings Konsten for och uppfodare af Husdjur) 

 draws attention to the value of the ordinary surgical chain-saw, which a 

 veterinary surgeon at Stromsholm had successfully employed. That which 

 was recommended is about a foot in length, and an inch wide. Each end 

 has a ring to which a cord is ^.ttached, and to the cord may be fixed a 

 short, transverse wooden handle. The chain-saw has the advantage of 

 being perfectly flexible, and can therefore be passed around bones, joints, 

 etc., and the necessary movements performed in cutting through these — 

 by pulling alternately at each cord — without endangering the organs of 

 the mother. One hand of the operator must, of necessity, guide the saw 

 and ascertain its progress.* 



Bone-forceps might be used advantageously, but we are not aware that 

 they have been employed in veterinary obstetrics. They should be made 

 with the jaws bent, so that the cutting edge would be concave, and they 

 could be made sufficiently strong in jaws and handles to cut through the 

 largest bones. A screw at the end of the handles would bring these 

 together with sufficient force to divide the strongest pieces of bone. 



In the foregoing we have only alluded to the instruments which are 

 generally approved of ; many more might have been described ; but no 

 particular advantage could have been derived by doing so. A multitude 

 of instruments can only be embarrassing to the veterinary obstetrist. Be- 

 sides, it must be confessed that too little attention has been devoted to the 

 perfecting of those already in use, or to devising others more simple and 

 efficient to supplant them. There is here a wide field still open for those 

 who desire to cultivate a most important department of veterinary surgery. 



Instruments necessary for particular operations will be referred to as 

 these are described. 



* All the obstetrical instruments to which reference has been made in this work, are supplied by Mackey, 

 Sellers & Co., Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, London. 



