438 VETERINARY LECTURES 



the patient is noticed to erect its tail, and strain and press as if about 

 to calve. Any faeces which may be in the rectum is forcibly ejected, 

 and in severe cases the rectum is turned out, and bloody mucus is 

 discharged from the vagina. 



767. After learning the history of the case, the operator should 

 oil his hand and introduce it gently into the rectum. Immediately 

 the hand is passed through the anus a tense, more or less distended 

 body is felt beneath the floor of the bowel. By passing the hand 

 further forward this bladdery distension is found to extend into the 

 cavity of the belly. Understanding what is amiss, he should with- 

 draw the hand and pass the forefinger of the left hand into the 

 vaginal passage, when, immediately in front and above the neck of 

 the bladder, the obstruction will be found and a roughening felt, a 

 result of the penetration of the male organ in the act of serving. 

 Treatment. — For relief, an operation is necessary. A trocar and 

 cannula (the latter being 10 inches long and |- inch in diameter — 

 Plate LI I., Fig. 11) is passed up along the vagina and guided by the 

 forefinger of the left hand (the point of the trocar being withdrawn 

 into the tube) until the roughening in question is reached, when 

 both are forced through the obstruction into the bladdery tumour 

 {Plate XL 1 1 1., B). The trocar is then withdrawn, the fluid passing 

 through the cannula, while its escape is very much assisted by pass- 

 ing the hand into the rectum. The parts are next washed out with 

 a gallon or two of tepid water containing 1 ounce of tincture of 

 iron. I have also operated upon animals that have not been served 

 (one case being that of a white heifer nine months old) ; the fluid in 

 these cases is like dirty milky whey with a very foetid smell, while 

 in those who have been served the fluid is of a dirty brown colour, 

 with a ' stink ' resembling that of a decayed cleansing. 



PARTURITION IN THE MARE, COW, ETC., AND 



ITS AFTER-EFFECTS. 



768. Plate XLIV., Fig". I, shows the natural presentation seen in 

 the domestic animals, the nose being between the knees, and the 

 fore-feet protruding through the vulva. At a cow's first calving all 

 the pelvic ligaments may be well relaxed, yet in some cases there is 



