ioo6 Veterinary Obstetrics 



neglected, and the ligature is nevertheless wrongly and danger- 

 ously placed. The exterior of the cord consists of the imper- 

 meable amniotic sheath, which encloses within it the vessels sur- 

 rounded by the Whartonian gelatine. If the cord is tightly 

 ligated* the gelatine is firmly enclosed, and its fluid portions can- 

 not escape readily and permit proper dessication of the stump. 

 Even if the ligature has been applied under other antiseptic pre- 

 cautions, but retains the Whartonian gelatine, the procedure is 

 at once in conflict with surgical practice, becau.se this substance 

 constitutes an excellent medium for the growth of pathogenic 

 bacteria and assumes the same surgical significance as extensive 

 blood clots when retained in a wound. The danger from infec- 

 tion is further emphasized if the ligature is placed at a point too 

 distant from the umbilicus, thus increasing the amount of tissue 

 in the cord which must undergo dessication or putrefaction. The 

 greater the amount of moist tissue, the more probable is putre- 

 faction, and the less likely is dessication to occur. 



Ligation possesses yet another danger, in the possible incarce- 

 ration of the two umbilic arteries and the urachus. If the 

 ligature is applied very tightly before the cord is severed, the 

 retraction of the arteries and urachus into the abdominal cavity 

 may be prevented. Being retained in the navel, the open ends 

 of the arteries and urachus are freely exposed, and rendered more 

 subject to infection during putrefaction of the tissues. 



The po.ssibility of either preventing or decreasing navel infec- 

 tion by ligating the stump is by no means clear upon surgical 

 grounds. When a living tissue is ligated, and the ligature so 

 tightly applied as to cause necrosis on the distal side, it appears 

 clinically to cause a prompt protective reaction (leucocytosis) on 

 the proximal .side of the ligature, which largely serves to prevent 

 important infection. But when a ligature is applied to a dormant 

 or dead ti.ssue like the umbilic stump, no such reaction is caused, 

 and the stump goes on to putrefaction or dessication, as circum- 

 stances may favor. The application of a ligature about a mass 

 of dead tissue cannot prevent infection of the necrotic mass on 

 either side of the ligature, but may greatly favor putrefaction by 

 confining fluids within the parts. When such bacterial infection 

 and decomposition occur in the necrotic tissues of the cord, the 

 more or less dormant vessels incarcerated in the decomposing 

 tissues are .seriously exposed to bacterial inva.sion. 



