TRAUMATIC LESIONS OF THE GENITAL ORGANS, ETC. 637 



adopted when suppuration has set in, only more attention must be paid 

 to the disinfective treatment. 



SECTION IV. RELAXATION OF THE PELVIC SYMPHYSES. 



This accident, which is far from common in woman, is still more rare 

 in animals j and there appears to be only one case recorded — that by 

 Gilis. 



Gilis {Journal des Veterinaires dii Midi, 1858) alludes to the case of a Cow, eight 

 years of age, which, nineteen clays beyond its time for calving, commenced to strain 

 very much. All at once it ceased, bellowed, flexed its fore-limbs, lay down, and began 

 to strain again. In a short time it brought forth a calf in a natural manner. From this 

 time it lay almost constantly, and could only rise with great difficulty. Then it could 

 scarcely move, and its hind-quarters swayed from side to side : the ilium of either side 

 rising or falling, as the corresponding limb sustained weight or was raised from the 

 ground. The hand passed into the rectum, found the sacro-iliac articulation painful on 

 ])ressure. There was no abnormal sensibility in the ischio-pubic symphysis; but when 

 ihe animal walked, the index-finger placed on one pubic bone and the medius on the 

 other, felt an alternate movement of these bone.s, in harmony with that of each ilium. 

 The sacro-pubic diameter of the pelvis appeared to be diminished, while the bi-iliac was 

 slightly increased. The internal angle of the iliums forming the summit of the croup, 

 projected more than four inches above the spines of the sacrum, which appeared to be 

 as much buried between these angles. 



From these symptoms, Gilis diagnosed a partial disjunction between the pubic and 

 sacro-iliac bones. Deeming the case incurable, he recommended that the animal 

 should be fattened and killed. Some months after the examination, it was in the 

 same condition. The accident was attributed at first to pregnancy, then to the ex- 

 ertion the Cow made in draught until parturition, and finally to the act of parturition 

 itself. 



SECTION V. RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER. 



Rupture of the bladder alone, during parturition, would appear to be 

 an unusual accident, from the almost total absence of mention of its 

 occurrence. That it may happen, however, is beyond dispute, and the 

 cause of it is obvious. In the Mare the act of parturition is hurried and 

 energetic, and if it occurs while the bladder is distended with urine, the 

 pressure of the foetus during expulsion may rupture this viscus, and par- 

 ticularly if the rectum above is also full of faeces, the fcetus large, and 

 perhaps in a wrong position. 



The extravasated urine gives rise to peritonitis, and the animal will 

 present the symptoms of that most painful inflammation. Death is 

 inevitable. 



I. Furnivall ( F^/^r/war/Vj-;?, vol. x.xxiii., p. 377) was hurriedly called to attend a six- 

 year-old cart Mare, which had brought forth in previous years' two foals, and had then 

 foaled fourteen days before its anticipated time. Early in the morning the wagoner 

 entered the stable where the Mare stood along with five other horses, and found the 

 animal with a foal hanging from it, the hips being fast in the vagina. He removed the 

 Mare at once to an empty stable, and went to inform the owner. During his absence, 

 according to the statement of a boy who remained, it heaved violently and ejected the 

 foal, which alighted on its head, dislocated the second and third cervical vertebrae, and 

 did not move afterwards. The Mare then commenced throwing itself about and breath- 

 ing quickly, striking at the abdomen with the hind-limbs, and, whqp up, reeling like an 

 intoxicated animal. It appeared to be in the most terrible agony, and in a short time 

 fell down as if shot, and died. This occurred before the arrival of Furnivall, who made 

 an examination of the body. Every organ was found to be perfectly healthy both in the 

 thorax and abdomen, with the exception of the bladder, which was ruptured to the ex- 

 tent of three inches, and the urine it contained had necessarily escaped into the perito- 

 neal sac. 



