208 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



FORE LIMBS CURVED AT THE KNEE LIMBS SPRAWLING OUTWARD. 



Iii this case not only are the knees somewhat bent in a curve but the 

 calf has a position as if it rested on its breastbone, while the legs were 

 drawn apart and directed to the right and left. The shoulder blades 

 being drawn outward from the chest and the elbows turned out, the 

 muscles extending from the trunk to the limb are unduly stretched and 

 keep the knees bent and the feet directed outward so as to press on the 

 sides of the passages. They become retarded in their progress as com- 

 pared with the more rapidly advancing head, and may bruise or even 

 lacerate the Avails of the vagina. It would seem easy to rectify this by 

 extending the legs, but the already tense and overstretched muscles 

 operate against extension in the present position, and it is not easy to 

 rotate the limbs so as to apply the shoulder flat against the side of the 

 chest. Under these circumstances a repeller (Plate xx, Fig. 7) may be 

 planted in the breast, and the body of the calf pushed backward into 

 the womb, when the limbs will extend easily under traction and the 

 presentation becomes at once natural. 



FORE LIMBS CURVED AT KNEE FLEXOR TENDONS SHORTENED. 



Iii this case the feet will press against the floor of the pelvis though 

 the limb has no outward direction, and the shoulder meanwhile presses 

 against the roof of the same passage. Unless the knees can be suffi- 

 ciently straightened by force a knife must be employed to cut across the 

 cords behind the knee, when the limbs may be straightened sufficiently. 



FORE LIMBS FLEXED AT KNEE FLEXOR TENDONS UNSHORTENED. 



This is mostly seen in cases in which the body ot the calf is in the 

 proper position, its back being turned up toward the back of the dam, 

 and in cows with a drooping abdomen. The feet have been supposed 

 to catch beneath the brim of the pelvis and being retarded while the 

 head advances into the passages they get bent at the knee, and the 

 nose and knees present. (Plate x vi, Fig. 2. ) The calf, however, is not an 

 inanimate body advanced by the mere contraction of the womb, but it 

 moves its limbs freely under the stimulus of the unwonted compression, 

 and in moving the feet as they are advanced they slip down over the 

 pelvic brim and finding no other firm support they bend back until, 

 under the impulsion, they can no longer straighten out again. The 

 knees, therefore, advance with the neck and head, but the feet remain 

 bent back. The result is that the upper part of the limb is also flexed, 

 and the shoulder blade and arm bone with their masses of investing 

 muscles are carried backward and applied on the side of the chest, 

 greatly increasing the bulk of this already bulky part. As the elbow 

 is carried back on the side of the chest, the forearm from elbow to knee 

 further increases the superadded masses of the shoulder and renders 

 it difficult or impossible to drag the mass through the passages. When 



