DISEASES OF THE GENEEATIVE ORGANS. 191 



the shoulders upward toward the spine and secure more room for 

 bringing up the missing feet. It is good policy to first put a halter 

 (PL XXr, figs. 4« and 46) on the head or a noose (PL XXI, fig. 3) 

 on the lower jaw and a rope round each limb at the knee, so as to 

 provide against the loss of any of these parts when the body is pushed 

 back into the womb. This offers the further advantage that by drag- 

 ging upon these ropes the body can be advanced in the passage until 

 the foot is reached, when the rope must be slackened and the repeller 

 used to secure room for bringing up the foot. If the cow is lying, 

 the operator should first secure the foot on the upper side and then, if 

 necessary, turn the cow on its opposite side so as to bring up the other. 



In using the instruments some precautions are demanded. They 

 must be invariably warmed before they are introduced, and they 

 should be smeared with lard or oil to make them pass easily and with- 

 out friction. The assistant who is pushing on the instrument must 

 be warned to stop if at any time resistance gives way. This may 

 mean the turning of the fetus, in which case the object of repulsion 

 has been accomplished; but much more probably it implies the dis- 

 placement of the instrument from the body of the fetus, and un- 

 guarded pressure may drive it through the walls of the womb. 



When the calf enters the passage with its back turned down toward 

 the belly and udder, the bending back of the fore limbs is rare, prob- 

 ably because the feet can find a straighter and more uniform surface 

 of resistance in the upper wall of the womb and the backbone, and 

 do not slide over a crest into an open cavity as they do over the brim 

 of the pelvis. The weight of the calf, too, gravitating downward, 

 leaves more room for the straightening of the bent limbs, so that the 

 desired relief is much more easily secured. The manipulation is the 

 same in principle, only one must add the precaution of a steady trac- 

 tion on the feet in extraction, lest, owing to the adverse curvature of 

 the fetus, the hoofs be suddenly forced through the roof of the va- 

 gina, and, perhaps, the rectum as well, during a specially powerful 

 labor pain. 



When the back of the calf is turned to the right side or the left the 

 main difference is that in addition to straightening the limbs the fetus 

 must be rotated to turn its back upward before extraction is attempted. 

 In this case, too, it may be difficult to bring up and straighten the 

 lower of the two limbs until the body has been rotated into its proper 

 position. Cord the upper straightened limb and head, then rotate the 

 body and search for the second missing limb. 



FORE I.IMBS BENT BACK FROM THE SHOULDERS. 



This is an exaggeration of the condition just named, and is much 

 more difficult to remedy, owing to the distance and inaccessibility of 



