570 ACCIDENTS INCIDENTAL TO PARTURITION. 



consequently firmly closed, the placenta, though non-adherent, will be 

 retained. 



Rueff mentions that the accident is especially frequent in certain years. 

 when the herbage and forage is not good, and particularly when the latter 

 is mouldy ; it has long been known that these conditions favor abortion. 

 He also alludes to a popular belief in Germany, which attributes this 

 ZurUckbkiben der JVachegeburf, to allowing the calf to take the teat before 

 the placenta has been expelled ; the irritation of the udder so produced 

 reacts sympathetically on the uterus, which contracts at the cervix, and 

 so retains the membranes. 



According to Baumeister, milking too soon, or giving cold water to 

 drink, is supposed to act in the same way. 



Numerous other causes have been mentioned as influencing this reten- 

 tion ; but we need not notice them, as there is really no proof that they 

 do operate in this way. The accident occurs under all systems of man- 

 agement, and all kinds of conditions ; it is, therefore, probable that sev- 

 eral causes may produce it, and that some of these are still obscure. 



Treatment, 



The treatment of placental retention appears always to have been a 

 subject on which diverse views and opinions have been held : many ob- 

 stetrists maintaining that — with the Cow more particubvly — this reten- 

 tion is never dangerous in itself, and that unless there arise complications, • 

 the removal of the foetal membranes should in every case be left to the 

 efforts of nature ; while there are others who assert that there is great 

 risk in this retention, and that when it has exceeded two or three days 

 after the birth of the foetus, there is need for active intervention. The 

 experience of the majority of obstetrists will negative both of these opin- 

 ions j for it is a matter of almost daily observation, that in many instances 

 the placenta remains without inconvenience in the uterus for several 

 days — six or eight — before it is spontaneously expelled ; while in other 

 cases retention for the same period is marked by more or less serious 

 symptoms. This difference undoubtedly depends upon circumstances, 

 the precise nature of wjiich we cannot always fully ascertain or compre- 

 hend. Nor can we venture to lay down positive rules as to when it is 

 time to interfere, or when abstention will be the prudent course : — this 

 can only be learned by individual experience and the tact of the practi- 

 tioner. 



It may be remarked, however, that when parturition has been normal, 

 when the Cow does not appear to suffer pain or inconvenience, when the 

 " straining " is unfrequent and slight, the appetite good and lactation es- 

 tablished, and particularly when, during a low or moderate temperature^ 

 a portion of the membranes protrude beyond the vulva ; then there is 

 no great reason for interference until a week or even more has elapsed. 



But if, on the contrary, the external temperature is high, the labor has 

 been difficult, the genital organs irritated or abraded, and if fever, rest- 

 lessness, and suffering are noted, with strong and frequent straining, and 

 especially, if there are foul-smelling discharges from the vagina, then in- 

 tervention is called for, no matter whether the time which has elapsed 

 since parturition is long or short. 



When the envelopes form a somewhat large mass hanging from the 

 vulva, it may be anticipated that early and spontaneous removal wall take 



