126 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



palpation, even though the fetus be yet alive, but this is not 

 as easy in the cow as in the mare. In the latter I have been 

 able to pass my finger through the wide, short cervical 

 canal, from which the uterine seal had disappeared, palpate 

 the suppurating, necrotic area of the chorion about the os 

 uteri internum, and, beyond, touch the active fetus. In the 

 cow this is impracticable, but one may recognize by vaginal 

 examination the disease or destruction of the uterine seal 

 or portions of necrotic chorion in the cervical canal or pro- 

 truding into the vagina. By rectal examination, one may 

 recognize clearly the paretic uterus of metritis, its want of 

 tone, its flaccidity at the cervical end, and the thickened 

 wall. By these means I have been able to make the diag- 

 nosis "Pregnant, but unsafe" and, to the astonishment of 

 the breeder, have my diagnosis verified in a few weeks by 

 the cow aborting. The dead and macerating or emphyse- 

 matous fetus and such displacements as torsion of the uterus 

 without clinical symptoms are clearly diagnosed by rectal 

 palpation. The palpation of the pregnant uterus per rec- 

 tum has, therefore, a very wide range of usefulness and 

 is capable of important advancement by further study. 



Much fiction has been indulged in regarding the dangers 

 from palpation of the gravid uterus per rectum. While 

 some persons are bungling enough to rupture the rectum in 

 this procedure, that is not the fault of the operation, but 

 merely the ignorance, stupidity, or carelessness of the ex- 

 aminer. The idea that abortion may be caused by a pru- 

 dent rectal palpation is no better founded, if as well, than 

 the unavoidability of rupturing the rectum. A stupid ex- 

 aminer might rupture the gravid uterus, or possibly roll it 

 over and cause torsion, but that is not abortion, and does 

 not lead to abortion. I might illustrate the safety of the 

 examination by a typical incident to which reference will be 

 made later. I was examining for pregnancy a cow which 

 had been bred 145 days previously. The findings were ex- 

 ceedingly confusing. I palpated the uterus for one-half 

 hour before I finally recognized the presence of torsion. 

 The cow was left for about twenty hours, then was cast, 



