620 Veterinary Obstetrics 



way to cause pain when the animal attempts to arch her back 

 during an expulsive effort. This plan is even more effective in 

 the cow, or her straining may be overcome by tying a hard rope 

 across the back in such a way that it will not permit her to 

 elevate the spinal column in order to strain. For this purpose we 

 use a coarse rope, attach one end near the floor on one side, 

 carry it directly over her loins, draw it through a ring or around 

 a post near the floor upon the other side, and make it fast at such 

 a point that the cow's back cannot be raised above the normal 

 level. 



It has been proposed to overcome the violent expulsive efforts 

 of our larger domestic animals by means of tracheotomy. In 

 this way the animal cannot strain so hard because of tlie fact that 

 she cannot close the larynx and retain the air in the lungs, since 

 it promptly escapes through the trachea tube. This cannot, how- 

 ever, wholly ov^ercome the expulsive efforts, but is worthy of 

 trial. 



When these expedients fail, or we desire to wholly control the 

 struggles and expulsive efforts of the animal, we may resort to an- 

 aesthesia. We have resorted to chloroform anaesthesia in dys- 

 tokia in the mare, with the best results, and feel that this method 

 of control has been entirely too much neglected by veterinary 

 practitioners. The veterinary obstetrist, especially when dealing 

 with mares, should always carry a sufficient amount of chloro- 

 form to produce anaesthesia, and should be ready to resort to it 

 whenever the exigencies of the case, either from a humane or a 

 surgical standpoint, may demand it. 



The Prevention of Infection During Obstetric 

 Operations. 



There is no place in veterinary practice where the rules of dis- 

 infection are more important than in obstetric work. Nowhere 

 else do we encounter so large and highly receptive a surface for 

 infection as in the uterus, denuded as it is of its protective epi- 

 thelium at the time of birth. 



The operator should be provided, as we have suggested, with 

 ample clothing, which has been thoroughly sterilized and disin- 

 fected. If he has recently been engaged in the handling of a 

 putrid wound or some infectious or transmissible di.sease, and 

 especially if he has recently been engaged upon a case of retained 



