SEQEL.E OF I'Airrri'JTloX. -211 



reduced to exceedingly small porportions. With Solipeds and the 

 Sow, which have a diffused placenta, the follicles which received the 

 placental papilhr of the chorion also disappear ; and the membrane, 

 greatly thinned, assumes its ordinary ridged appearance, though the 

 ridges or folds are larger and more numerous than before conception. 

 In a Mare killed eighteen or twenty hours after parturition, lircolani 

 found the maternal portion of the placenta reduced to one-half its 

 thickness ; its colour, instead of being a dull red, had become yellowish ; 

 the follicles, from being one to two millimetres in length, were reduced 

 to one and half a millimetre, and the capillary network around them 

 was no longer visible 



The evacuation of the detached elements is accompanied by an 

 apparently large mucous secretion, which, often sanguinolent, con- 

 stitutes what we have described as the " lochia." 



Finally, a new epithelium is formed in the place of that which has 

 been shed, and the uterine interior presents the appearance it had 

 before impregnation. According to Friedlander, the formation of the 

 new mucous membrane takes place in the following manner : All that 

 has remained behind of the cellular layer richly infiltrated with blood, 

 as well as the upper portions of the glandular layer, gradually exfoliates 

 and is discharged in the lochia. The flatly compressed glandular tubes 

 situated close to the muscular coat are opened up, and their cylindrical 

 epithelium forms the new mucous epithelium of the internal surface 

 of the uterus. The connective tissue situated between the tubular 

 glands accordingly proliferates, and becomes reorganised. In con- 

 sequence of the increase in thickness of the mucous membrane, the 

 previous shallow depressions of the epithelium are deepened, and in 

 that way the uterine glands are also reformed in the new mucous 

 membrane. 



Coincidently with this return to small proportions, the uterine cervix 

 also regains its former shape. During the passage of the fcitus, in 

 process of dilatation the os and vagina form a continuous canal without 

 any interruption, and the cervix is effaced. Immediately after the 

 ftt'tus has passed througli, however, the latter reappears, the os is 

 closed, and the uterus and vagina are again separated by the sphincter- 

 like ring which the uterine neck exhibits in the cavity of the latter. 

 The cervix is at this time soft and flabby, and the os, not entirely 

 closed, is readily dilated by the fingers. But it gradually contracts 

 and closes, as its texture becomes firmer, and in doing so it elongates 

 towards the vagina, into which it projects, until it has regained its 

 natural form and consistence ; though it is always shorter and less 

 regular in shape, particularly at the os, in animals which have had 

 several young, than in tho'^'^ which have never been pregnant. The 

 uterus itself does not completely assume the dimensions it had in non- 

 pregnant animals, but is always larger after it has contained one or 

 more foetuses. 



It may be noted that the broad ligaments of the utenis become 

 shortened after parturition, and consequently raise the organ towards 

 the lumbar region, and in the direction of the pelvis ; while their 

 muscular fasciculi undergo fatty degeneration and absorption. 



Such are the organic modifications the genital organs undergo after 

 labour, when everjthing occurs regularly. But it sometimes happens 

 that the muscular layer of the uterus appears to be stnick with 

 paralysis soon, or even immediately after birth ; so that it remains 



