Placentitis. Endometritis with Retained Fetal Membranes 80 1 



A more common type of metritis with retained fetal mem- 

 branes is the retention in the non-gravid horn. As a rule 

 the fetus lies in the uterine body and one of the horns, so 

 that the non-gravid horn does not develop markedly. As in 

 the cow, the non-gravid horn habitually suffers more se- 

 verely from infection present than the gravid horn. Pre- 

 sumably this is due to the lower vitality of the non-gravid 

 horn of the chorion, making it more vulnerable to bacterial 

 attack. It may well be, however, that the cornual apex and 

 the oviduct are fundamentally worse affected in many cases, 

 so that pregnancy is barred upon that side but remains pos- 

 sible upon the less infected side. Whatever may be the cor- 

 rect explanation, the fact remains that the non-gravid cornu 

 frequently suffers severely from a localized endometritis, 

 the crypts are deep and irregular, and the chorionic tufts 

 gross and uneven, showing great variability in color. At 

 one point the chorion is intensely red and angry ; at another, 

 a necrotic-like, dirty gray. The other portions of the endo- 

 metrium may be healthy. When parturition occurs, there is 

 prompt dehiscence of the healthy chorion in the gravid horn 

 and uterine body, but the chorion in the non-gravid horn is 

 incarcerated. It is usually narrowed at its juncture with 

 the uterine body and fragile from disease. The weight of 

 the detached chorion of the gravid horn and the body drags 

 upon the frail prolongation, it parts, the chief mass drops 

 away, and the non-gravid prolongation remains incarcerated 

 and out of sight. Conditions are then ripe for an explosion. 

 The entire endometrium of the gravid horn and uterine 

 body, approximately fifteen to twenty square feet in area, 

 is wholly denuded of protective epithelium and highly vul- 

 nerable to invasion. There rests in the badly diseased non- 

 gravid horn a large volume of infection in the presence of 

 a large mass of necrotic chorion already saturated with in- 

 fection. The accumulated infection pours out into the uter- 

 ine cavity and gravid horn, and the necrotic, putrefying 

 fragment of chorion drops into the uterine cavity. The 

 spread of the infection is rapid. Marked clinical symptoms 

 quickly appear. Within twenty-four to forty-eight hours 



