GASTRO-HYSTEROTOMY, OR THE CESAREAN SECTION. 555 



formed on Mares and other animals which could not bring forth ; but, 

 like Bourgelat, he does not state whether he ever practised it. 



It was not apparently until 1813, that Morange, and in 1816 Gohier 

 {Mem. sur la Chirurgie et la Med. Veterinaire^ vol. ii., p. 40), attempted it 

 on the living animal, though unsuccessfully. Morange operated on 

 a Cow, and it was to all appearance in a fair way to recovery, when it suc- 

 cumbed to an attack of indigestion caused by improper feeding. About 

 the same period, Rohlwes {Das Gauze der Thierheilkunde, 1822, p. 143) 

 operated on a Mare. 



Since that time gastro-hysterotomy has been practised comparatively 

 often, both in England and on the Continent ; and there can scarcely 

 be a doubt that it was mainly indebted to its general introduction, as an 

 obstetric operation, to the fact that the abdomen of animals could be 

 opened with impunity in such operations as ovariotomy (spaying) in 

 swine and other creatures ; as well as from the experience that, in 

 abdominal hernia in the pregnant animal, the foetus had been often 

 extracted in this way, and the mother did not succumb. 



Gastro-hysterotomy has been practised both on the large and small 

 domesticated animals, but perhaps with most success on the latter. In 

 48 cases of this operation, Franck finds that 25 — or. 52 per cent. — had a 

 fatal termination. Saint-Cyr, from a smaller number, makes the mortal- 

 ity 71 per cent. Franck can only note three instances in the Mare, and 

 they were all fatal, though the foals were saved. For the Cow he has 17 

 instances ; 6 of these recovered (one of them, however, was Morange's, 

 which died from over-feeding fifteen days after the operation, and 

 another was Sacchero's, which was sent to the butcher in six days). This 

 gives 35 per cent, saved, and 65 percent, lost. In three Sheep there were 

 no recoveries, and in two Goats, only one. With the Pig the operation ap- 

 pears to have been wonderfully successful. In 8 instances all recovered : 

 a result Franck is inclined to attribute to the different arrangement — or 

 rather attachment — of the placenta, which renders this animal less liable 

 to septic infection through injury to the uterus. With the Bitch, the mortal- 

 ity is about the same as in the bovine species ; in 15 cases, 6 — 40 per 

 cent. — lived. Franck thinks this percentage might be much increased if 

 the operation was performed on the right side, and antiseptic treatment 

 adopted, or, if necessary, even extirpation of the uterus ; as putrid infec- 

 tion readily occurs in the Dog. 



With regard to saving the young, the operation is not very favorable. 

 In nearly all the instances in which the parent recovered, the progeny 

 has been dead, or died ; and in only 4 of Franck's list of cases were the 

 parents, and one or more of the young creatures, preserved alive. Three 

 of these cases were Bitches, and the other was a Sow. 



With the Cow, the Calf is often saved, while the parent dies. Of 7 in- 

 stances, the calves were extracted alive in 6. 



With the Mare, the operation must be resorted to early in order to save 

 the foal, as, for the reasons already given, it perishes quickly. 



It is only on a knowledge of the length of time the foetus may live 

 during parturition, or after the death of the parent, that the operation 

 can be undertaken with any prospect of success — so far as obtaining it 

 alive is concerned ; and this is an important consideration with regard to 

 the bovine species. Kehrers, in his observations on the Bitch, found 

 that three minutes after death the foetus began to show symptoms of 

 asphyxia, and in thirty-six minutes it was dead. In pregnant Cows and 



