628 ACCIDENTS INCIDENTAL TO PARTURITION. 



1. Petzold {Sachsen Jahresbericht, 1865, p. 73) relates that a Cow was delivered of its 

 calf by manual force, though without much difficulty ; nevertheless, there ensued much 

 swelling of the vulva, which extended to the right hock. On a close inspection being 

 made, there was found on the right side of the vagina, about four inches from the vulva. 

 a rent nearly three inches in length ; while the whole of the vagina itself was swollen, 

 hard, and of a bluish-red hue. Fzeces and urine were voided with difficulty ; the animal 

 was feverish, had lost its appetite, the respiration was hurried, etc. Injections of tepid 

 aromatic infusions, with acetate of lead, were resorted to. From the third day all the 

 more serious symptoms disappeared, and on the tenth day the wound had healed. 



2. Field ( Veterinarian, vol. xxxi., p. i) communicates the case of a young Mare which, 

 being expected soon to foal, was put into one of the bays of a barn with that view ; at 

 the same time another Mare, due to foal two months later, was put into the opposite 

 bay. Both were fenced off from contact with each other, and the breadth of the floor 

 intervened. The Mares were visited by the carter at night, and there was nothing to 

 attract his particular attention. When he looked in upon them early next morning, he 

 found the Mare which had been expected to foal was dead, and that the other had 

 aborted. The first had evidently been dead some hours, and on a closer inspection, its 

 bowels were observed to be lying about its feet, bruised and lacerated, but there was no 

 foal. An autopsy was made, and the foetus, full-grown, was found with its head bent on 

 the chest and the fore-legs under the body. In the violent efforts made by the Mare to 

 expel the foal, the intestines had been forced through a wide rupture between the vagina 

 and rectum. The other Mare had aborted through fear or sympathy, or both. 



3. Shipley {Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 383) attended a Mare which required assistance in par- 

 turition. The animal was lying down and getting up frequently, straining, etc A very 

 small portion of the foetal membrane was hanging from the vagina, the calibre of which 

 was contracted, and the general appearance of the parts was not that of the parturient 

 period. The liquor a?nnii had escaped. The foal was large and alive ; the fore-limbs 

 were in the vagina, but the head was bent round to the right side. Attempts were 

 made to adjust the latter, during which the hand came in contact with something, the 

 character of which could not be detected from its being covered with the membranes. 

 The Mare was very much exhausted, and threw itself down violently onCe or twice. 

 Traction by means of cords was exercised on the foetus, during which the Mare sud- 

 denly fell on the left side and violently strained, forcing from the vagina what appeared 

 to be a portion of the single colon, covered by part of the cTiorion. The case being 

 deemed hopeless for the Mare, even if the foetus was removed by embryotomy, it 

 was shot, and a longitudinal incision being at once made along the li7tea alba, the uterus 

 was exposed, opened anteriorly, and a fine healthy filly extracted. The young creature 

 lived and did well. The wall of the uterus was found to be ruptured to the left of the 

 upper part, and anterior to the os ; the rent was about five inches in length, and some- 

 what oblique, a considerable portion of the single colon and rectum protruding through 

 it. The meso-colon and meso-rectum were also ruptured to the extent of six inches. 



4. Meyrick [Ibid., p. 503) alludes to a Mare he was called upon to attend which 

 could not foal. The labor-pains had only commenced two or three hours previously, 

 but there was no appearance of the foal. On introducing the hand into the uterus, the 

 foetus was found to be so placed that there was no diffiulty in adjusting it. While, how- 

 ever, attempts were being made to bring one of the fore-feet through the os, the Mare 

 strained very violently. "This led to an immediate protrusion of a portion of the 

 vagina in the form of a large bladder, close to my shoulder. Immediately afterwards 

 the vagina burst, and a quantity o£ the intestines gushed out through the rent, the Mare 

 falling down at the same instant. The mucous membranes of the mouth and nose be- 

 came blanched almost immediately, and the pulse so tremulous and weak as scarcely to 

 be felt." In about fifteen minutes death took place ; and on opening the abdomen a 

 large quantity of blood was found in it, and which had escaped from a rupture, two or 

 three inches in length, in one of the common iliac veins. Much blood had also poured 

 from the rent in the vagina. The foal was dead. ^' 



5. Galtier [Recueil de Med. Veterinaire, 1875, P- 47) '*^^^ summoned in the afternoon to 

 aid a Mare which had been attempting to foal since the morning. It had lain on its 

 side, making violent expulsive efforts, and Galtier was only sent for when it was noticed 

 that the intestines were protruding from the vulva ; on his arrival the Mare was dead. 

 The small intestine and floating colon, pushed through a rent in the vagina, were fully 

 exposed externally, but not torn, and notwithstanding their expulsion, the abdomen was 

 still considerably distended. As soon as the abdominal walls were incised, a large 

 quantity of uncoagulated blood escaped from the cavity — the result of haemorrhage from 

 the ruptured vagina. The foetus was in the anterior presentation, vertebro-sacral posi- 

 tion, the lower part of the head pressed against the brim of the pubis and slightly in- 

 clined to the right, although the Mare died when lying on the left side. The uterus and 

 its contents occupied the right flank, and the small intestine and floating colon, more free 



