Application of Traction 593 



Much the same may be said of the pulley, by which we can 

 increase the force at will and can quite readily control the di- 

 rection of the traction at every stage of progress. The pulley 

 has the one very marked advantage that it may be carried in a 

 very compact form by the operator, as a part of his equipment, 

 and be ready for application whenever occasion arises. 



Others have used, for the purpose of developing mechanical 

 force, various apparatuses in case of emergency, such as the wind- 

 lass, capstan, and various obstetric machines, which have been 

 worked by means of a screw or otherwise. However, the two 

 which we have suggested are so universally available and so effi- 

 cient that it would seem scarcely necessary to discuss the others 

 beyond admitting that, when they chance to be at hand, they 

 ma\' act quite as well as those which we have habitually used. 



While these mechanical devices for the development of force 

 seem in some respects cruel, they are not so at all when com- 

 pared with other means for which they are substituted. Veter- 

 inarians in general condemn the practice of hitching horses or 

 oxen to a fetus in order to draw it away, as being cruel and un- 

 justified by any principles of surgery or of humanity. Unless a 

 number of men can be well controlled in their efforts, it is no 

 more humane, nor is it any more scientific, to place 8 or 10 men 

 upon a cord to draw upon a fetus than it is to hitch a horse to it. 



Mechanical means for the application of force are far more 

 under the control of the operator, are more continuous and better 

 directed. In our judgment, where a certain force is necessary, 

 which cannot be accomplished by three or four men, the mechan- 

 ical appliance is safer and more effective. In our comparison we 

 are dealing with the question of the application of a given amount 

 of force with like supervision. Admittedly, with mechanical 

 means we can apply such an unlimited force as to tear either the 

 fetus or mother asunder, but so we may by manual force if we 

 but sufficiently multiply the number of men. 



The amount of force to be applied in a given case constitutes a 

 severe test of the judgment of the veterinarian. It is a practi- 

 cal question which should be decided upon sound principles. In 

 almost any case of dystokia we may reduce the size of the fetus, 

 by embryotomy, to such dimension that but little force will be 

 required to bring about its extraction from the uterus. If this 

 can be readilv accomplished, and the fetus is dead, it follows that 

 38 



