832 Veterinary Obstetrics 



hour, we had once more almost completely returned the organ, 

 when the cow again threw herself violently to the ground. This 

 time, by accident, she fell into an excavation, and lay with her 

 head down hill upon as steep a bank as would permit her to re- 

 tain her position without sliding downward. When we grasped 

 the uterus and again attempted to return it, it fairly fell back 

 into place after one or two minutes of work, and the operation, at 

 which we had worked in vain for an hour or two, was completed. 

 The smaller animals, when suflfering from prolapse of the uterus, 

 are regularly to be more or less completely suspended by the 

 hind legs. Where extreme difficulty is encountered in the mare 

 or cow, she too may be partially suspended with ropes and 

 pulleys from a beam. 



Having secured the animal in a proper position for the return 

 of the organ, or having made the necessary arrangements for 

 placing the patient in the proper position, the obstetrist should 

 proceed to put the organ in proper condition for its return into 

 the normal position. 



If the placenta remains attached, this should be removed if at 

 all practicable. In this everted state, the operation of the re- 

 moval of the placenta is undertaken under the very best possible 

 conditions, so that it is nearly, if not always, perfectly practi- 

 cable and easy to remove it. It is needless to say that this should 

 be done with very great caution, since any abrasions or lacera- 

 tions of the uterus in this prolapsed state tends to produce very 

 profuse hemorrhage. 



In almost all cases of prolapse of the uterus, the organ has be- 

 come more or less befouled with dirt of various kinds, and espe- 

 cially with manure and bedding, bearing abundant and serious 

 infection, which it is the province of the veterinarian to overcome 

 as far as possible. 



In order to properly cleanse the uterus, the organ must first be 

 protected from further contamination by being placed upon a 

 clean sheet, tray, or other suitable apparatus. Having pro- 

 vided ample protection, the operator should next proceed to 

 cleanse the organ, chiefly by irrigating it with a tepid saline 

 solution, .so as to remove most of the dirt by mechanical wash- 

 ing, without irritating the organ. We may use in this .solution 

 a very small quantity of carbolic acid, not to exceed 0.5%. 

 The washing with this solution should be very abundant, and 



