270 Veterinary Obstetrics 



obtained from the vagina of a healthy mare immediately after 

 copulation, is to be injected into the cervical canal or into the 

 uterine cavity of the patient. The question of surgical treat- 

 ment of these accidents is discussed under " Accidents of 

 Parturition." 



Ill Impediments to Copulation and Fecundation Referable 

 to Nervous Disorders. 



J Excitability and Timidity. In young heifers, especially 

 if the animal is very timid and is approached by a strange male, 

 there is a tendency to avoid coition if possible, although the 

 female is properly in estrum. In such instances the behavior of 

 the male has much to do with this state and, so far as possible, 

 he should be caused to approach the timid animal quietly. 



A mare having a young foal at her side is sometimes much 

 excited and resists the stallion because of the maternal instinct, 

 by which she fears some injury to her young. It is usually de- 

 sirable to keep the foal as near as possible to the mare's head, 

 where she can see it and recognize its safety. 



2 Vaginismus. In the cow there is occasionally ob.served a 

 peculiar contraction of the vulva, when attempts at copulation 

 are made, which is referable to a .spasm of the sphincter 

 muscles of that organ, due to hypersensitiveness. In this af- 

 fection the vulva becomes .so firmly clo.sed that the penis of the 

 male can not enter and, consequent!}', copulation can not occur. 

 We have seen no records of this difficulty in the mare and have 

 observed no cases where copulation failed because of it. In one 

 case of nymphomania in a mare we found, upon inserting the 

 arm for the purpose of spaying, that the sphincter of the vulva 

 contracted so powerfully that it caused great pain by crushing 

 our arm, and so injured it that it was lame for eight or ten hours 

 after the operation had been completed. The condition might 

 have interfered wdth copulation. 



Vaginismus is probably most generally connected with ovarian 

 disorder. Its cause is to be carefully determined by examination. 

 If the malady is of ovarian origin, those glands must receive atten- 

 tion. If the condition appears to be wholly local, attempts may 

 be made to overcome it by inducing fatigue in the animal, by the 

 internal administration of narcotics or by the use of local anaes- 

 thetics applied to the vulva. 



