CLASSIFICATION OF ABNORMAL PRESENTATIONS 239 



tion, gliding along the neck, both shoulder blades are found 

 within the pelvic inlet, the fore legs are bent backwards. The 

 examination is often very difficult, the fore legs frequently 

 being beyond reach. 



For the sake of a correct diagnosis and treatment, it is of 

 great importance to know whether one or both carpi have 

 entered the pelvic canal. 



The prognosis is favorable with small foetuses, also with 

 large ones provided the owner did not attempt to extract the 

 calf by the head. When the head has been forcibly drawn 

 beyond the vulva, it is advisable to give a doubtful prognosis. 



Treatment. — It is possible to extract calves in this presen- 

 tation in the seventh or eighth months of pregnancy, provided 

 the cervix uteri is sufficiently dilated. The head is fixed with 

 a rope behind the ears by placing the noose between the 

 branches of the lower jaw, so as to prevent tightening. Should 

 the calf be dead, a blunt hook, with a rope, is inserted into 

 each internal canthus of the eye. The calf is brought into a 

 costal position, so that the bicostal diameter of the calf lies 

 parallel to the greatest diameter — the height — of the pelvic 

 inlet. Now one or two men can extract the calf. 



We proceed in the same way with calves of normal size 

 and with a wide pelvis, as found in cows four and five years 

 old. It does not succeed in primiparse, especially when only 

 two years of age. 



When called in time to such cows and the foetal waters 

 have not yet been discharged, it is possible to repel the calf 

 and attempt reposition. Keposition is to be practiced by slow 

 and persistent pressure, and not by jerks, while the cow is 

 standing, or by raising the hindquarters. Should retropulsion 

 be impossible and the calf already dead, embryotomy is called 

 for. The head is skinned outside the vulva, the neck is re- 

 moved subcutaneously, the muscles severed around the 

 shoulder ; a rope is fastened about the scapula, the fore leg 

 drawn from the skin and removed. The other fore leg is now 

 adjusted and the calf extracted. When extraction is still im- 

 possible, embryotomy is to be continued. 



