190 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



pi'ession, 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 pas- 

 sages. When the fore limbs are fully extended, on the contrary, the 

 shoulder blade is extended forward on the smallest and narrow^est part 

 of the chest, the arm bone with its muscles is in great part applied 

 against the side of the back part of the neck, and the forearm is con- 

 tinued forward by the side of the head so that the nose lies between 

 the knees. In this natural presentation the presenting body of the 

 calf forms a long wedge or cone, the increase of which is slow and 

 gradual until it reaches the middle of the chest. 



The difficulty of extending the fore limbs will be in proportion to 

 the advance of the head through the pelvic cavity. In the early stage 

 all that is necessary may be to introduce the oiled hand, the left one 

 for the right leg or the right one for the left, and passing the hand 

 from the knee on to the foot to seize the foot in the palm, bend it 

 forcibly on the fetlock, and lift it up over the brim of the pelvis, the 

 knee being, of course, pressed upward against the spine. As soon as 

 the foot has been raised above the brim of the pelvis (into the pas- 

 sage) the limb can be straightened out with the greatest ease. 



When, however, the shoulders are already engaging in the pelvis 

 the feet can not thus be lifted up, and to gain room a repeller (PI. 

 XX, fig. 7) must be used to push back the body of the calf. This is 

 an instrument with a long straight stem, divided at the end into two 

 short branches (2 to 3 inches long) united to the stem by hinges so 

 that they can be brought into a line with the stem for introduction 

 into the womb and then spread to be implanted in the breast. In the 

 absence of a repeller a smooth, round fork handle may be used, the 

 prongs having been removed from the other end. A third device is 

 to have an assistant strip his arm to the shoulder and, standing back 

 to back with the operator, to introduce his right arm into the passages 

 along with the operator's left (or vice versa) and push back the body 

 of the calf while the operator seeks to bring up a limb. The repeller 

 or staff having been planted safely in the breast of the calf, an assist- 

 ant pushes uj^on it in a direction either for^vard or slightly upward, 

 so as not only to follow the natural curve of the body and favor its 

 turning in the line of that curve within the womb, but also to carry 



