DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE OEGANS. 189 



course, the first choice. Though the fore feet of one are presented, 

 yet if the head is not in place the calf presenting by its hind feet is to 

 be chosen as being less likely to obstruct. Again, if for either calf 

 one limb only is presented and the other missing, the one presenting 

 two feet should be selected to come first. As soon as the one calf 

 has been advanced so as to occupy the pelvis the other will be 

 crowded back so that it will not seriously obstruct. 



FORE LIPIDS CL RVED AT THE KNEE LIMBS SPRAWLING OUT^VARD. 



In 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 compared with the more rapidly advancing head, 

 and may bruise or even lacerate the walls 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 shoul- 

 der flat against the side of the chest. Under these circumstances a 

 repeller (PI. 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 LI:MBS CT RVED AT KNEE FLEXOR TENDONS SHORTENED- 



In 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 pa&sage. Unless the knees can 

 be sufficiently 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 of 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. (PI. XVI, 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 com- 



