148 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



interval, or about 16 per cent, of her span of pregnancy, 

 the bitch can not be aborted by uterine douching. 



Bonnet believes that in domestic animals generally the 

 tubal migration of the fertilized ovum requires eight to ten 

 days. The period is certainly no less, and I suspect that in 

 the cow it is longer. In one cow, which had long been ster- 

 ile, I douched the uterus freely with 2 per cent. Lugol's so- 

 lution thirteen days after conception, without inducing 

 abortion. There was moderate cervicitis present, and I 

 douched from the cervical end of the uterus some mils, of 

 pus, so that I possibly prevented, instead of caused, abor- 

 tion. So far as known, artificial abortion in the cow can 

 not be brought about by uterine douching until at least eight 

 to ten days after conception, or, judging from my single 

 experience, not until an even later date. There is greater 

 assurance of success if douching is deferred until about the 

 twentieth day. 



In douching the pregnant uterus, the veterinarian needs 

 to be quite cautious. The catheter must be introduced very 

 gradually and carefully through the cervical canal, since 

 the very adhesive uterine seal dulls the sense of touch and 

 renders mechanical injury possible. When the catheter has 

 entered the uterus and douching is attempted, the instru- 

 ment generally becomes blocked with portions of the uter- 

 ine seal and no safe distension of the uterus with fluid will 

 force out the sticky mass. The connecting screw between 

 the outer and inner tubes needs to be loosened and the inner 

 tube drawn back and forth until the plug of the uterine seal 

 is dislodged and washed away. 



The amount of fluid introduced should be noted very care- 

 fully, and great care taken not to use too much, because the 

 pregnant uterus is very easily ruptured. In a recent publi- 

 cation, a veterinarian records a case of "extra-uterine preg- 

 nancy" in a cow, the uterus of which he had recently douched 

 and ruptured, thus causing the fetus to become extra-uter- 

 ine. It is to be remembered, since up to the fourth month 

 the embryonic sac in the cow lies very loosely in the uterus, 

 that the douching fluid pushes the maternal and fetal pla- 

 centae apart. Then the detached sac, sucked into the fenes- 



