DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 221 



the nearer proximity of that end of the calf. An exception may, how- 

 ever, be made in favor of that extremity which will give the most nat- 

 ural presentation. Thus if, owing to obliquity in the position of the 

 fetus, the hind extremities promised a presentation with the back of 

 the fetus turned down toward the udder, and the anterior extremities 

 one with the back turned up toward the spine, the latter should be 

 selected. Again, if the choice for the two extremities is evenly bal- 

 anced, the hind may be chosen as offering less risk of complication, 

 there being no head to get displaced. 



Treatment. The first step in the treatment is to place a running 

 noose on each of the four feet, marking those of the fore limbs to dis- 

 tinguish them from those of the hind. In case it is proposed to bring 

 the anterior extremities into the passage, a noose should also be placed 

 en the lower jaw. Then run the ropes attached to the two feet that 

 are to be pushed back through the ring of a cord-carrier (Plate xxi, Fig. 

 5). passing the rings down to the feet, and by the aid of the carrier 

 push them well back into the womb and hold them there. Meanwhile 

 drag upon the ropes attached to the two other feet so as to bring them 

 into the passage (or in case of the anterior extremity on the two foot 

 ropes and the head one). The other feet must be pushed back into the 

 womb until the body of the calf is fully engaged in the passages. 

 After this they can no longer find an entrance, but must follow as the 

 body escapes. 



NEGLECTED AND AGGRAVATED CASES. 



In laying down the above rules for giving assistance in critical cases 

 of calving it is not intimated that all cases and stages can be success- 

 fully dealt with. Too often assistance is not sought for many hours or 

 even days after labor pains and the escape of the waters intimate the 

 danger of delay, and not seldom the lorig delay has been filled up with 

 unintelligent and injurious attempts at rendering assistance, violent 

 pulling when resistence is insurmountable without change of position, 

 injuries to the vagina and womb by ill-considered but too forcibly exe- 

 cuted attempts to change the position, the repeated and long continued 

 contact with rough hands and rougher ropes and hooks, the gashes 

 with knives and lacerations with instruments in ignorant hands, the 

 infecting material introduced on filthy hands and instruments, and the 

 septic inflammations started in the now diy and tender passages and 

 womb, and not (infrequently the death, putrefaction, and bloating of 

 the calf in the womb, rendering the case extremely unpromising, and 

 making it impossible to successfully apply many of the measures above 

 recommended. The labor pains of the cow may have practically ceased 

 from exhaustion ; the passages of the vagina may be so dry, tender, 

 friable, red, and swollen that it requires considerable eft'ort even to pass 

 the oiled hand through them, and the extraction of the calf or any por- 

 tion of it through .inch a channel seemn a hopeless tusk; the womb 



