458 SURGICAL DISEASES. 



queiit attempts to void her urine : with extreme difficulty in 

 accomplisliing it. I now resorted to the crotchet ; and after many 

 unsuccessful attempts, in which the superior part of the vagina 

 must have been considerably braised, I fixed it sufficiently firmly 

 to draw the head into the cavity of the pelvis. Here for a while 

 the shoulder resisted every attempt which I could make without 

 the danger of detruncating the foetus. At length by working at 

 the side of the head until my nails were soft and my fingers sore, 

 I extracted one fore leg. The other was soon brought down ; 

 another large pnpj)y was produced, but destroyed b}' the means 

 necessary for its production. This was the fruit of two hours' hard 

 work. 



" She was completely exhausted, and scarcely able to stand. 

 When placed on the ground she staggered and fell at almost 

 every step. Her effi)rts to void her urine were frequent and 

 ineffectual. 



" At four o'clock I again examined her ; the external pudenda 

 were sore and swelled, and beg-inninof to assume a black hue. It 

 was with considerable difficulty that I could introduce my finger. 

 A thii'd foetus irregularly presented was detected. I could just 

 feel one of the hind legs. No time was to be lost. I introduced 

 a small pair of forceps by the side of my finger, and succeeded in 

 lajang hold of the leg without much difficulty, and, with two or 

 three weak efforts from the mother, — I could scarcely call them 

 pains, — I brought the leg down until it was in the cavity of the 

 pelvis. I solicited it forward with my finger, and, by forcibly 

 pressing back the labia j^itdendi, I could just grasp it with the finger 



