348 MATERNAL DYSTOKIA. 



dilated by the foetus, then treatment must be directed to effect sufficient 

 dilatation for its passage through the canal. In nearly every instance 

 this must be accomplished by free incision of the cervix. 



CONDYLOMATOUS, PAPILLOilATOUS, AND LIPOMATOUS TUMOURS. 



These tumours are met with most frequently in the generative organs 

 of the Cow and Bitch, and particularly in the vagiiaa. They seldom 

 prove a serious obstacle to the passage of the fcetus. 



They first appear as soft, fungoid, cauliflower-like vegetations, which 

 bleed from the slightest contact, and are readily crushed or deformed. 

 In the Bitch they sometimes completely fill the vagina, and give rise to 

 a constant sanious, and most offensive, discharge from the vulva. 



Lipomatous tumours are also most frequently noticed in the vagina 

 of the Bitch ; and in two instances observed by Oreste and Falconio, 

 one tumour was the size of a filbert, the other of a large walnut. 



The general indications for treatment are applicable to these growths, 

 though they seldom, if ever, prove an obstacle to birth. 



FIBKOID AND MYOMATOUS TUMOUES. 



Fibroids are not at all uncommon in the generative organs, and are 

 frequently the cause of difficult parturition. They have been observed 

 in the uterus and vagina of the Mare, Cow, Sow, Goat and Bitch. 



In structure, it would appear that the fundamental portion of these 

 tumours is composed of connective tissue, which may present the histo- 

 logical characters of areolar, mucous, or tendinous tissue, the fibres of 

 which, more or less closely interlaced, have connective tissue corpuscles 

 or cells lying between them, and are cemented into a solid mass by an 

 inter-elementary, more or less abundant, amorphous substance that 

 greatly contributes to increase the consistency of the neoplasm, giving 

 it a dull white or nacrous appearance, as if composed of cartilaginous 

 tissue. The connective tissue corpuscles composing these tumours are 

 sometimes considerably enlarged and hypertrophied, and this is more 

 particularly observed in the fibroids of the uterus. This arrangement 

 has been found to exist in the uterine fibroma of a Cow examined by 

 Ercolani in 1855 ; cartilaginous transformation of the structure has 

 even been detected. 



The fibroids are developed from the submucous or subserous connec- 

 tive tissue, or from the muscular texture of the uterine parietes. When 

 the latter, the tumour is rarely pediculated, but nearly always remains 

 sessile. The uterine fibroma of submucous origin is certainly at first 

 sessile, and is covered by the mucous membrane ; but as it grows it 

 becomes pediculated. 



The fibroids of the uterus, as well as those of the vagina, are some- 

 times covered by the mucous membrane, and at other times grow 

 beyond it. They are sessile or pediculated, and are of variable volume 

 and consistency ; their surface is either smooth or irregular, as if com- 

 posed of a number of smaller tumours. 



Franck mentions that the pathological museum of the Munich Veter- 

 inary School contains the uterus of a Cow, one of the cornua of which 

 is occupied by a myomatous tumour springing from the muscular layer 

 of the part, and as large as a man's head. 



Sometimes the pediculated fibroids of the uterus, in consequence of 



