PARTIAL EMBRYOTOMY 279 



can be removed. The skin flaps are fixed, to be employed 

 when necessary in extraction. 



THE TURNING OR VERSION OF THE CALF FOLLOWING DIVISION. 



Definition. — By version is understood the repulsion and 

 rotation of a part of the body primarily presented at the pelvic 

 canal and the introduction to the parturient passage of a part 

 at first distantly located. 



In most cases version of the whole calf is impossible. It 

 may be attempted with very small calves when the uterus is 

 not contracted aud the greater part of the foetal waters still 

 present. When the calf is wedged, projecting as far as the 

 withers at the vulva, rendering further extraction impossible, 

 the parts already born may be amputated, the skin tied over 

 the trunk and the hind parts repelled and turned so that the 

 hind legs may be guided into the pelvic canal. 



Indications. — It frequently happens that a calf is extracted 

 as far as the withers or even further beyond the vulva, but 

 that further delivery, in spite of traction, is impossible. This 

 depends on various causes. In most cases the trochanteric 

 diameter of the calf exceeds the height or width of the velvic 

 inlet. The external angles of the ilia are mostly in the pelvic 

 passage and the trochanters in front of the pelvic inlet. Any- 

 body who has handled a number of such cases knows that the 

 distance between the external angles of the ilia is not the 

 cause of dystokia. An excessive trochanteric diameter is 

 mostly seen in double-enders, in which the hind parts are 

 sometimes only voluminous. In these cases the anterior por- 

 tion of the body has been extracted with a great deal of 

 trouble, the foetal sacrum catching on the sacrum of the cow. 



Saake states that the stifle presentation may produce dys- 

 tokia. This presentation is only diaguosed when the calf is born 

 as far as the lumbar region. On examination, the stifle is found 

 in front or below the pubis of the cow, the femur perpen- 

 dicular. 



Version succeeding division may be indicated also in some 

 monstrosities. 



