442 



THE HUMAN SPECIES 



beings, at least no mention is made of it in veterinary text-books 

 on obstetrics. There is, however, a still more severe and 

 destructive lesion, which may occur both in human beings and 

 animals, though it is fortunately rare in both, namely, expul- 

 sion of the head (or in animals of the head and fore-limbs) 

 through the tissues of the vagina or perineum owing to abnormal 

 rigidity of the external genital opening. Franck records a series 

 of cases occurring in mares in which certain parts of the foals, 



the head, feet, or both together, 

 were expelled through a laceration 

 in the upper wall of the vagina 

 and the lower wall of the rectum, 

 a condition certainly fatal to the 

 mother unless re-position could be 

 promptly effected. 



Finally, when the foetus is 

 born the completion of the labour 

 may be delayed both in human 

 beings and animals if the after- 

 birth does not come away pro- 

 perly, and dangerous haemorrhage 

 occurs. 



Retention of the placenta is 

 not uncommon in women, and in some may occur more than 

 once. Among animals it occurs most frequently in cows, less 

 frequently in other ruminants, seldom in horses, and less fre- 

 quently of all in the multifarious domestic animals. 



Removal of the placenta by external manipulation is only 

 possible in human beings. In both human beings and animals 

 it may be seized from within the genital canal, and its removal 

 is followed by contraction of the uterus and cessation of the 

 haemorrhages. 



FIG. 216. Contracted pelvis in 

 lordosis. (Spath.) 



