234 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



being shifted as soon as possible to the fetlock. With 

 the exertion )f considerable force, the calf may now be 

 extracted, and sometimes without serious injury. 



"By studying these cases, the operator will be enabled 

 to adapt his measures to every case of false presenta 

 tion ; and they are numerous. Great force must some- 

 times be used to effect the extraction of the calf. The 

 united efforts of five or six men have been employed, 

 and (although such practice can scarcely be defended in 

 any case) a horse has sometimes been attached to the 

 cords. The foetus has been necessarily destroyed, but 

 the mother has survived ; too often, however, she has 

 evidently fallen a victim to this unnecessary violence. 

 If by the united force of two or three men, the loetus 

 cannot be brought away, any ruder and more violent 

 attempt must always be fraught with danger, and will 

 often be fatal. The safer way for the mother, — yet that 

 is attended with considerable risk, — is to cut off some 

 of the limbs of the foetus. One or possibly both shoul- 

 ders may be separated, slipped, and then the head and 

 trunk may, without much difficulty, be brought away. 

 The knife must be one that can be concealed in the 

 hand, and that is hooked at the end, and rounded and 

 thick at the back; but, notwithstanding that, there is 

 much danger of wounding the womb, which is forcibly 

 pressing on the hand of the operator. 



" Labor is not unfrequently prevented by the diseased 

 state of the entrance or neck of the womb, which be- 

 comes hard and scirrhous, and thus prevents the calf 

 escaping. When this is found, by examination, to be 

 the case, an operation should be performed, which con- 

 sists in dividing the contracted entrance by means of a 

 small knife passed up, protected by the hand and fingers. 

 Considerable care must be exercised, so as not to cut too 

 deeply ; and it is better to divide the stricture slightly in 

 several places. 



" From the violent efforts of the cow, or from unneces- 

 sary artificial violence, the uterus, or calf-bed, may 

 protrude, and be absolutely inverted.* The case is not 



* Falling of the withers is a general term among farmers to denote 

 this condition. Tlis womb is protruded and completely turned insid* 



