288 DY ST OKI A. 



more favourable circumstances. Art should never undertake what 

 Nature can effect ; and remembering this, the obstetrist will not only 

 seek to learn and appreciate the powers of Nature, but will be in a 

 better position to calculate how far he should himself interfere. 



Whatever is necessary to be done should be accomplished without 

 delay, so as to spare the animal pain and exhaustion. Sometimes par- 

 turition is difficult because of the insufficiency of the expelling forces, 

 as we have already noticed, and this may be remedied by hygienic and 

 therapeutic means ; but more frequently, while the expulsive efforts are 

 normal, there is undue resistance. To increase the expelling forces in 

 the latter instances would evidently be unwarrantable and injurious, 

 and we must attack the resistance by various means, according to its 

 character. Obstacles in the genital passages must be overcome either 

 by altering the position of the foetus hy manipulation, in changing the 

 position of the mother, or by other means ; and it often happens that 

 we must combine extraneous force with the expulsive efforts of the 

 mother, in order to extract the foetus artificially. At other times the 

 size of the fcetus must be reduced by embryotomy, and in extreme cases 

 an artificial passage has to be made for it by hysterotomy ; though 

 these dangerous operations may be occasionally averted by causing 

 artificial abortion, at a period when the foetus is sufficiently small to be 

 safely expelled through a contracted pelvis. 



There is no occasion, in veterinary obstetrics, to hesitate in sacrific- 

 ing the life of the foetus in serious cases ; and in this respect the 

 practitioner is in a different position to the accoucheur of woman-kind. 

 With animals there is only a material loss to be looked at, and the 

 foetus must always be greatly inferior in value to the mother ; therefore, 

 in order to save the latter, it is more profitable to sacrifice the former. 



Such are the general principles w^hich we believe to be applicable to 

 all cases of dystokia. These cases are numerous and various — more 

 varied even in animals than in woman ; and in order to study them 

 beneficially, it is advisable to classify them in a methodical manner. 

 We will follow Saint-Cyr in arranging and studying them in the order 

 given below. 



Synoptic Table of the Causes ob' Dystokia in the Principal 

 Domesticated Animals. 



(Pelvic Constriction. 

 Displacement and altered relations of the Uterus. 

 Morbid alterations of the Maternal Organs. 

 Umbilical Cord. 



TExcess in Volume ^ 



Independent of Excess in Growth of Hair 



the Presenta--! Diseases Vof the Fcetus. 



tions, by : Monstrosities I 



Iroetal ...\ iMultiparity j 



■n J i. I Anterior. 



Dependent on ,, , . 

 . V, -r, . Posterior, 



the Presenta- i-^ , , 

 tions • Dorso-lumbar. 



ISterno-abdominal. 



Dystokia 



