568 ACCIDENTS INCIDENTAL TO PARTURITION. 



Symptoms and Termi fiat ions. 



The symptoms are generally so marked that the obstetrist readily dis- 

 covers the state of affairs. Nearly always there is a more or less consid- 

 erable mass of the foetal envelopes — sometimes only the umbilical cord 

 — hanging from the vulvar orifice, the labia of which are often swollen 

 and injected. Occasionally the mass is so large as to reach below the 

 hocks, with little bags of liquor amnii at the lower end ; it has, if recently 

 expelled, a fresh tint, not unlike that of the intestines ; but if exposed 

 for some time, and especially in summer, it is greyish-colored, somewhat 

 adhesive, and generally soiled by faeces or litter, 



. In other cases nothing is noticeable, except when the animal is lying 

 on its abdomen ; then the pressure on the uterus pushes the cervix into 

 the vagina, and if any portion of the membranes is through the os, of 

 course it is visible. And in others, again, nothing whatever is to be seen 

 whether the creature is lying or standing, the whole mass b^jng retained 

 in the uterus. After the third day of delivery the os is usually closed ; 

 and unless a portion of the membranes chanced to be in the vagina be- 

 fore this period, the entire placenta is imprisoned in the uterus, and a 

 manual exploration will not always discover it. Sometimes only a frag- 

 ment of the membranes is so retained. 



We have mentioned that, in many cases, the animal does not evince 

 any uneasiness at first ; sometimes, when the portion of placenta hang- 

 ing outside the vulva is large and heavy, when the creature is standing 

 the meatus urinarius is pressed upon, and micturition is rendered diffi- 

 cult. There may also be symptoms of abdominal uneasiness — whisking 

 the tail,. stamping with the feet, and making efforts as if to defecate or 

 micturate, with slight and brief uterine contractions, which may eventu- 

 ally lead to the expulsion of the placenta. 



it often happens that when the os is not completely closed, owing to a 

 portion of the membranes lying in it, spontaneous expulsion takes place, 

 after a variable period. 



Deneubourg, a Belgian veterinary surgeon, asserts that it occurs at 

 fixed intervals, which are almost regular "tertiary periods ;" that is, if 

 expulsion does not ensue in the first twenty-four hours, it should take 

 place on the third day ; and if not then, it will be either on the sixth, 

 ninth, twelfth, fifteenth, or other tertiary interval — but most frequently 

 on the ninth day. How far this assertion maybe correct, experience can 

 alone decide ; what is more to the point, however, is the fact that, when 

 once this spontaneous expulsion has been effected, there is little to be 

 apprehended. 



It is not so when retention is accompanied by decomposition of the 

 membranes. This occurs when the air has access to them ; and all the 

 more rapidly does putrefaction progress as the temperature is high, and 

 they are impregnated with discharges. 



The odor is most repulsive, and a sanious brown-tinted discharge, com- 

 posed of debris of the membranes, and secretions from the irritated mu- 

 cous lining of the genital canal, fiow from the vulva — soiling it, the tail, 

 thighs, and hocks, and often excoriating them ; this discharge is most 

 abundant when the animal extends itself to micturate, and it is then 

 horribly fetid. The hand, on being passed into the vagina, is covered 

 with the fluid, and it may encounter shreds of the placenta. 



In such cases, the hea'lth of the animal often suffers : there is dulness, 



