DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 199 



while be introduced into the womb and the snared limbs seized and 

 pressed against its .walls so as to secure the rotation of the uterus along 

 with the body of the fetus. The relaxation of the constriction and 

 the effacenient of the spiral folds will show when success has been 

 gained, and the different members at one end of the body should then 

 lie brought up so as to secure a natural presentation. 



NARROW PELVIS FROM FRACTURE OR DISEASE, 



In a small cow the pelvis may be too small to pass a calf sired by a 

 bull of a large breed, but this is exceptional, as the fetus usually 

 accommodates itself to the size of the dam and makes its extra growth 

 after birth. When the pelvic bones have been fractured repair takes 

 pluce with the formation of a large permanent callus, which, projecting 

 internally, may be a serious obstacle to calving. Worse still, if the 

 edge of the broken bone projects internally as a sharp spike or ridge, 

 ;i> the vaginal Avails are cut upon this during the passage of the calf, 

 with serious or fatal result. In other cases, where the cow has suffered 

 from fragility of bone (fragiliias ossium), the thickening of the bone 

 causes narrowing of the long passage of the pelvis and the crumb- 

 ling fractures poorly repaired, with an excess of brittle new material, 

 may form an insuperable obstacle to parturition. Cows affected in any 

 of these ways should never again be bred, but if they do get pregnant 

 and reach full time a careful examination will be necessary to determine 

 whether natural parturition can take place, or if the calf must be 

 extracted in pieces. (See Embryotoiny.) 



OBSTRUCTION BY MASSES OF FAT. 



This is not unknown in old cows of the beef breeds, the enormous 

 masses of fat upon and within the pelvis being associated with weak- 

 ness or fatty degeneration of the muscles. If the presentation is nat 

 tiral little more is wanted than a judicious traction upon the fetus to 

 compress and overcome the soft resisting masses. 



OBSTRUCTION BY A FULL BLADDER OR RECTUM, OR BY STONE. 



In all cases of delayed or tardy parturition the evacuation of rectum 

 and bladder is iini>ortant, and it is no loss so in all difficult parturi- 

 tions. Stone in the bladder is fortunately rare in the cow, but when 

 present it should Ix* removed to obviate crushing and perhaps perfora- 

 tion of the organ during calving. 



CALVING RETARDED BY NERVOUSNESS. 



Ill a public fairground I have seen labor pains begin early in the day 

 and keep up in a weak and insufficient manner for many hours, until 

 the stall was thoroughly closed in and the cow secluded from the eon- 

 stant stream of visitors and the incessant noise, when at once the pains 

 became strong .nd oftective and the calf was soon born. 



