TRAUMATIC LESIONS OF THE GENITAL ORGANS, ETC. 623 



animals when the prolapsed organ gets in their way. In some instances 

 it has been caused by jagged bones of the fcEtus in embryotomy, and in 

 others by pessaries introduced into the genital canal to retain the inverted 

 organ. 



In such instances the diagnosis is easy ; for if the uterus is still inverted 

 the rent is visible, and its dimensions, situation, and gravity can be taken 

 into account. 



It is somewhat remarkable that laceration or rupture of the extruded 

 organ is much less serious than the same amount of injury to the uterus 

 in situ, and it would appear that in inversion there is the greatest toler- 

 ance of the most serious lesions. Why this should be has not been ex- 

 plained ; but the fact is nevertheless patent, that in very many instances, 

 when reposition of the uterus has been effected, the rupture has readily 

 cicatrized, and union has been so complete and substantial, that the 

 animals have afterwards been successfully bred from. 



Some authorities have closed the rent by suture ; but very many have 

 not, and the termination has been as favorable in the one series of cases 

 as the other. Unless the rupture is in the lower wall of the uterus, 

 sutures are at least superfluous. 



Beyond the measures for reduction of the inversion, and the neces- 

 sary antiseptic after-treatment, little more has to be observed. When 

 the rupture is serious in inversion, and grave results are to be appre- 

 hended should the uterus be returned, then it may be advisable to ampu- 

 tate the organ. This may be accomplished in the manner already indi- 

 cated. 



We shall notice a few of the recorded cases of rupture of the uterus. 



1. Louis {Reaieil de Mid. Vetermaire, i?>6i) attended a Mare — a primipara — which had 

 aborted, and soon afterwards the uterus was inverted, with the placenta adhering to it ; 

 the organ was ruptured in the two-thirds of its antero-posterior diameter, i.e., laterally. 

 It was the left side — probably the left cornu. The Mare was straining violently. The 

 inverted portion was replaced, a cord truss was applied, and the animal had recovered in 

 twenty days. 



2. Darquie (Gelle', Pathologie Bovine, vol. iii.) was called in to reduce the inverted uterus 

 of a four-year-old Cow, three days after parturition. Reduction was accomplished, and 

 a truss applied. The straining continued, however, and on the fourth day after reduc- 

 tion, one of the strands of the truss having been torn, inversion again occurred. On the 

 arrival of Darquie, the uterus was found to be enormously swollen, and the mucous 

 membrane hanging about it in shreds. He went for assistance, but forgot to close the 

 door of the shed, and during his absence two large dogs had got in, and commenced de- 

 vouring the organ. When he returned half an hour afterwards, the Cow was lying and 

 covered with blood, and the uterus was destroyed nearly as high as the vulva. Fearing the 

 results of the haemorrhage, Darquie was about to ligature en wajj^what remained of the 

 uterus, when the animal suddenly jumped up, and all that was left disappeared in the 

 pelvis. Nothing was done except to prescribe some acidulated injections into the vagina, 

 low diet, and a few hygienic measures; in about fifteen days the Cow appeared to be 

 quite well. 



3. Eleout [Rec. de Med. Veterinaire, 1841) had to treat a Cow which produced a dead 

 calf, and soon after showed complete inversion of the uterus. The latter was of a deep 

 red color, and soiled. Reposition was attempted. " I commenced with the left cornu, 

 which I readily returned, holding it by its base, and pushing it with my left hand until it 

 disappeared. I proceeded in the same manner with the right cornu, which was likewise 

 replaced. There was only a small portion that was not returned, when the Cow backed 

 upon me with such force that the termination of the right cornu was ruptured, and my 

 hand and arm penetrated into the abdomen. The uterus, finding nothing to resist it, 

 was again expelled. My first thought was to unite the edges of the wound by suture ; 

 but seeing that the animal was greatly debilitated, that the mucous membrane of 

 the ut rus had been too long exposed to irritating contact with the air, that by this pro- 

 ceeding I would protract the operation, and that in similar cases others had obtained a 

 radical cure by excising a portion of the organ, I set about a second reduction of the 



