TRAUMATIC LESIONS OF THE GENITAL ORGANS, ETC. 619 



the tumor was removed by the knife ; it weighed seven pounds. The Mare died three 

 days subsequently, from inflammation of the vagina, neck of the bladder, and the ureters. 

 Leech was of opinion that the inflammation was chiefly due to the weight of the mass 

 after the ligature was applied, and he recommends immediate amputation. 



9. Tailby {Ibid., vol. xliii., p. 23) attended a six-year-old Mare which had foaled three 

 days previously, and soon after was observed to have a large mass protruding from the 

 vulva. The animal was in great pain, pulse and res'piration much increased, tremors in 

 the hind quarters, great difficulty in moving from side to side, and occasionally lying 

 down and getting up again. The protruded viscus, supposed to be the uterus, was 

 evidently the bladder : urine trickling from the orifice of the ureters, ana the hand could 

 be readily passed into the vagina. The organ appeared to be in a gangrenous condition. 

 Reduction was attempted without casting the animal, but it strained so violently that it 

 had to be thrown down. The fundus and as much of the body as could be grasped, 

 were seized, and gentle pressure was steadily applied with three fingers upon the 

 entrance to the urethra ; during a struggle made by the animal, a large portion of the 

 mass receded, and the hand of an assistant completed the reduction. The uterus, vagina, 

 and bladder were then injected with solution of carbolic acid (i to 60). Anodynes and 

 stimulants were subsequently administered, and the Mare recovered. 



10. Robinson (Ibid., p. 78 1) relates a case of inversion of the bladder in a Mare, a 

 sequel of parturition. It was attended with so much general prostration, as well as 

 congestion of the bladder, that he thought it inadvisable to attempt reduction. The urine 

 conveyed by the ureters filled tlie vagina, and was frequently ejected. The Mare was 

 ultimately able to partially retract the organ within the vagina ! 



CHAPTER VI. 



Traumatic Lesions of the Genital and Neighboring Organs. 



Either during or after parturition, the genital and neighboring organs 

 are exposed to injuries of a more or less serious character, according to 

 their situation and extent. These we will now consider in the following 

 order : i. Laceration and rupture of the uterus ; 2. Laceration and rupture 

 of the vagina ; 3. Thro?nbus of the vulva and vagina ; 4. Relaxation of the 

 pelvic symphyses ; 5. Rupture of the bladder ; 6. Rupture of the intestines ; 

 7. Rupture of the diaphragm ; 8, Rupture of the abdominal muscles ; 9, Rup- 

 ture of the sacro-sciatic ligament. 



Section i. — Laceration and Rupture of the Uterus. 



Laceration and rupture of the soft parturient passages are very far 

 from being unusual during parturition in the domestic animals, and par- 

 ticularly in the Mare and Cow ; and of these the uterus and vagina are 

 most frequently involved. 



Solutions of continuity of the uterus are often met with by the veteri- 

 nary obstetrist, and they are either incomplete — when the organ is only 

 partially torn or lacerated, or complete — when they penetrate through the 

 entire thickness of the uterine wall, and perforate into the abdominal 

 cavity. These solutions may occur either during pregnancy, during par- 

 turition, or at a variable period after the fcetus has been removed from 

 the uterus — when it is generally a complication of inversion of this organ. 

 Antepartum rupture has been already fully alluded to at page 184, and 

 we have now to study its occurrence during and after birth. 



Rupture during Birth. — Rupture of the uterus may occur spontaneously 

 in a complete or incomplete form during parturition ; and though the ac- 

 cident is perhaps not so frequent in animals as in woman, yet there are 

 many cases on record in which it has undoubtedly occurred in them, and 



