582 ACCIDENTS INCIDENTAL TO PARTURITION 



verted ; while in multiparous creatures, generally little more than the por- 

 tion which contained the foetuses is involved. 



•The accident has been observed in animals kept in houses and stables, 

 as well as in those roaming about at liberty ; and it has been known from 

 time immemorial. The Roman veterinarian, Vegetius, alludes to it, and 

 recommends the employment of an inflated pig's bladder as a very good 

 pessary. , 



Symptoms. 



The symptoms of uterine inversion vary with its extent. With uniparous 

 animals, inversion always commences at the fundus of the organ, most fre- 

 quently towards the largest cornu where the greater p^rt of the foetus was 

 lodged. Under the influence of an irregular, and kind of spasmodic con- 

 traction, this part is drawn, or pushed inwards, just as the foot of a stock- 

 ing is inverted ; and this action continuing, the fundus or cornu is more 

 or less rapidly carried towards the os, through which it passes into the 

 vagina {incojnplete inversion), dragging after it the body of the organ, which 

 also becomes inverted as it proceeds. 



It is rare indeed that inversion does not go beyond this; for the con- 

 siderable alteration in position and relations which has already taken 

 place, gives rise to sensations of discomfort and pain, and these react on 

 the nervous system, and induce contraction of the uterine and abdominal 

 muscles. Powerful and hurried expulsive efforts ensue, and soon the or- 

 gan is pushed beyond the vulva, where its own weight carries it down- 

 wards, and renders the ^rcAdt^isns comJ>kte — the lining or mucous membrane 

 having become external. 



When inversion is complete, the uterus has the form of an enormous 

 pear or calabash-shaped tumor, hanging between the posterior limbs : 

 the wider and rounded portion being inferior, and sometimes extending 

 as low as the ho.cks, the narrow extremity or pedicle being at the vulva, 

 in the interior of which, and between the labia and the tumor, is a more 

 or less deep and circular ctil-de sac, according as the prolapsus has in- 

 volved a certain extent of the vagina. 



That the surface of the tumor is composed of the uterine mucous mem- 

 brane, is easily apparent from its softness and color — which is sometimes m 

 a bright red, at other times somewhat violet or brown, according as it is 1 

 much injected with venous blood, or irritated by the external air, or the 

 litter, fqeces, etc., with which it may have come in contact, and which may 

 be adhering to it. With the Mare and Sow, we can recognize the uterine 

 placental villi, and the innumerable depressions for the reception of those 

 of the foetal placenta ; in the Cow, Sheep, and Goat, we have the deep- 

 red isolated fungiform eminences or cotyledons, and in the Bitch and Cat, 

 the wide dark-brown zone. Sometimes we notice with the Cow, — more 

 rarely with the Mare, — portions of chorion still attached to the placental 

 surface of the uterus ; and nearly always are seen excoriations, more or 

 less extensive ecchymoses, and even gangrenous patches, on the membrane 

 — indications of the injury the organ has sustained, either during or after 

 parturition. This mucous surface is not so sensitive as might be im- 

 agined ; it is more or less hot, and bleeds at the slightest touch, though 

 the haemorrhage may not be profuse ; at one side or the other may be 

 noticed a kind of depression — the opening to the cornu which is not yet 

 inverted. 



The longer the period which has elapsed since inversion occurred, so 



