300 MATERNAL DY ST OK I A. 



with the hind legs wide apart. Aptitude for labour is also somewhat 

 impaired, as may be imagined. 



Origin and Symptoms in Mnltiparous Animals. 



As has been mentioned, uterine hernia is observed in multiparous 

 animals, but its manner of production would appear to be different 

 to what it is in uniparous creatures, this taking place in the interval 

 between gestations. The length and mobility of the cornua in such 

 an animal as the Bitch, together with their close proximity to the 

 abdominal walls, sufficiently explain how they may pass into an 

 opening in these walls. There is formed, at first, a small tumour the 

 size of a pigeon's or hen's egg ; this tumour is soft, indolent, more 

 or less easily reduced, and attracting perhaps little or no attention 

 while the animal is unimpregnated, it remains stationary. After 

 impregnation, however, it daily acquires larger dimensions ; one or 

 more ova have descended into the hernied portion, localised them- 

 selves there, and become developed into foetuses without the Bitch 

 showing much, if any disturbance. 



The usual seat of the hernia is in the mammary region, to the right 

 or left of the linea alba, though it may be also inguinal, or even vulvar. 



An example of inguinal uterine hernia will be given hereafter ; we 

 will now briefly allude to a case of vulvar uterine hernia described by 

 Eainard. In this instance the uterus, which had been apparently 

 carried through the inguinal ring, was pushed backwards through the 

 connective tissue, and appeared as a tumour at the vulva. The owner 

 of the animal, not knowing what the swelling contained, opened it by 

 means of a penknife ; in this way there was formed a fistulous wound, 

 from which a viscid fluid escaped. Eainard incised this fistula, and 

 found beneath the skin a second membrane having some analogy to 

 it, and which afterwards proved to be the uterus ; to the inner face of 

 this there adhered a reddish-brown vascular network, which was 

 the placenta, and which was easily detached by the finger ; within it 

 appeared a transparent bladder — the amnion — already slightly perfor- 

 ated, and looking like the envelope of a cyst. Having opened this, 

 there escaped a quantity of fluid, and a foetus apparently three or four 

 weeks old. The Bitch died next day. 



When the hernia occurs in the abdominal region, it usually appears 

 as an indolent tumour, the skin covering it being destitute of redness, 

 and not attenuated in any way ; the tumour itself is soft and fluctuating 

 at different points where the liquor amnii is, but firm and resisting at 

 others where the foetus chances to be. 



It may be noted here, that there may be other herniae of the uterus 

 besides ventral. For instance, Gelle describes a case of hernia of one of 

 the uterine cornua which contained a Calf, and which had passed 

 through a rent in the mesentery. And Eainard has observed several 

 cases of this kind in the Bitch. 



Pathological Anatomy. 



The pathological anatomy of uterine hernia is not without interest 

 to the obstetrist ; and as it has been studied in animals which had 

 died during attempts at parturition, or were slaughtered after that act, 

 the evidence is as plentiful as it is reliable. 



