280 DYSTOKIA. 



species are those which the obstetrist is generally called upon to attend 

 during protracted or difficult parturition ; and every practitioner who 

 has had any experience in this matter, will testify that for one case in 

 the Mare or other animal there will be at least ten in the Cow. Two 

 Danish veterinarians, Nielsen and Tallich, have estimated, that while 

 they have had ten cases in the Mare, the first has had 190, and the 

 second 159 in the Cow ; and yet these writers practised in a district 

 where more Horses than Cows were reared. 



We have already said that the Mare is, of all quadrupeds, the one 

 which brings forth its young most easily — a fact noted by Aristotle. 

 But this remark only applies to normal parturition in that animal ; in 

 abnormal cases there is, as a rule, more urgency and danger than in 

 the Cow, as well as more difficulty in affording relief. Indeed, a very 

 able veterinarian, Donnarieix, who has had an extensive experience in 

 obstetricy, declares that obstetrical operations in the Mare are a labour 

 of Hercules ; while in the Cow they are, comparatively, child's play. 

 This experience will not quite accord with that of every practitioner ; 

 as in both animals difficulties in parturition will be sometimes 

 encountered, which baffle the skill of the most competent obstetrist, 

 and often prove insurmountable. One of these difficulties in the Mare 

 is related to the difference in the vitality of the Foal and Calf when 

 parturition has commenced — a difference which we have before pointed 

 out as due to the particular arrangement of the maternal and foetal 

 placentae in each species, and which it is of great importance to 

 remember in choosing the means to be employed in overcoming obstacles 

 to parturition in either the Mare or Cow. The following comparison 

 has been drawn by Donnarieix, between parturition in the Mare and 

 Cow, and fairly accounts for the differences in each animal : — 



Mare. Cow. 



1. Delivery is often followed by 1. Delivery always terminates 

 insuccess. favourably. 



2. A wound inflicted on the 2. A wound of these organs 

 genital organs is generally fatal. rarely causes death. 



3. Inversion of the uterus is 3. Inversion of the uterus is 

 nearly always irremediable. often curable. 



4. Mares nearly always succumb 4. This accident is not generally 

 to penetrating wounds of the abdo- fatal in Cows. 



men during parturition. 



5. Delivery of the most simple 5. Delivery, even in the most 

 kind is occasionally followed by complicated cases, generally proves 

 bad results. In abnormal and comparatively easy, and obste- 

 laborious parturitions not unfre- trical operations successful, 

 quently Mare and Foal succumb. 



6. Difficult parturition proves a 6. Such parturitions are not of 

 Herculean task to the operator. much account to a practitioner 



skilled in the necessary operations. 



Human assistance is also required at the time of parturition. The new-born Camel is the 

 most helpless creature imaginable ; it must be lifted by hand and placed under the 

 mother's teats ; but as soon as it can walk, it follows her about everywhere, and the 

 latter is so attached to her offspring, that she cannot bear to be separated from it. The 

 female Camel is granted its liberty for a whole year after parturition ; so that it only 

 foals every other year." — Mojigolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of Northern 

 Tibet, voL i., p. 124. London, 1876. 



