IXFLUEXCK OF PREGXAXCY oX dnDIXAin' DISEASES. 181 



ineiiibranes can be felt ; when it is dilated, there is at once a gush of 

 tluid, the aspect and quality of which varies. It is often greyish- 

 coloured, thick, and more or less fa^tid ; though it may also be clear 

 and serous. Its evacuation may occur at very variable periods — as at 

 one hundred and eighty days, five and a half months, thirty-two weeks, 

 or forty-six weeks, after the supposed successful copulation, according 

 to the various writers who have described these cases. 



There are two forms of hydrometra — (edematous lij/dronietra and 

 ascitic hifdrovu'tra. The former exists when the walls of the uterus are 

 infiltrated with serum, and may acquire a thickness of four or five 

 inches ; the latter is an accumulation of tluid in the cavity of the 

 uterus. Hydrometra luis been observed in the Mare, Cow, and Bitch ; 

 rarely in the Sheep. 



Recovery has often followed the evacuation of the fluid, when it has 

 been in the uterine cavity ; in some cases the condition has become 

 so aggravated as to cause death, or necessitate the destruction of the 

 animal. 



The diagnosis is arrived at by manual exploration, and by the absence 

 of some of the most characteristic indications of pregnancy. 



When the condition is diagnosed, and there is reason for interference, 

 the indications for treatment are plain — carefully dilate the os, evacuate 

 the contents of the uterus, and inject astringent and antiseptic fluids 

 (as carbolic acid 1 to 20) at intervals into its cavity. Give gentle laxa- 

 tives frequently ; guard against distention of the bladder, from which 

 the urine may be removed by means of a catheter, if necessary ; and 

 give nourishing food, with tonics. 



Cri AFTER II. 

 Diseases incidental to Pregnancy. 



Owing to animals being kept in a more natural state, generally, than 

 the human species, when pregnant tliey are much less exposed to the 

 risks and inconveniences of that condition than woman. The difference 

 in the attitude of the body may also tend much to obviate those serious 

 accidents, and prevent those unpleasant consequences, which so often 

 attend gestation in the human female. 



Nevertheless, notwithstanding this inmiunity, pregnancy in animals 

 brings about certain modifications in the organism which may some- 

 times call for serious notice, either when it leads to a morbid pre- 

 dis{X)sition, or in its influence on the progress of certain diseases already 

 existing at the time of conception, or which have developed during 

 pregnancy. There are also maladies whicli are peculiar to this condi- 

 tion, some of them of much importance. 



SF.CTI(1N I.— INFLUENCE OF PREGNANCY UN ORDINARY DISEASE.S. 



The influence of pregnancy on the course of the ordinary diseases of 

 animals has not yet been well ascertained, though it has been long 

 obsened that such an influence exists, and has often been productive 

 of marked effects. 



.\nd these may have been due, directly or indirectly, in some cases at 

 least, to the condition of the blood in the female, the red globules of 



