■ DISEASES OF THE FCETUS. 381> 



the abdomen of the Cows was so developed, that their owners thouj^ht 

 they were bearing' twin Calves. 



Quetier has published details of analof^ous cases of general infiltration, 

 ill which the fa-tus was at least twice its natural size. 



This condition has been witnessed in the fa3tus of the Mare by Pauli' 

 and Lehnhardc,'-' and by Ilerran'- in the Goat. The latter authority 

 made an autopsy of a Goat which had died from injuries intlicted on 

 its head, and found in it twin fcetuses, the bodies of which were com- 

 pletely infiltrated. 



Cause. 



The cause of this dropsical condition is not well ascertained. In 

 some cases it may be due to uterine dropsy of the mother or to con- 

 stitutional hydricmia ; but in other instances it cannot be so, as the 

 mother is in good health, and it would then appear to be owing to 

 derangement of the fcetal circulation, and particularly of the venous 

 system — probably congestion of the umbilical cord. At times, disease 

 of such organs as the kidneys may produce it. 



Franck^ remarks, that the fact that sometimes a Cow will for a 

 number of years bring forth these dropsical Calves {Wasscrkdlbcr) in 

 succession, while other Cows in the same shed produce healthy Calves, 

 shows that there is probably in these cases at least some anomaly in 

 the uterine vessels ; the fact, also, that sometimes along w'ith general 

 anasarca and ascites, there are rachitic alterations of the bones, points 

 to mal-assimilation, or deficient supply of the protein substances and 

 phosphorus salts, the deficiency being presumably due to disease on 

 the part of the mother, or to some anomaly in the composition of the 

 uterine milk. 



The amount of difiiculty met with during delivery in these cases will 

 depend upon the quantity of fluid effused into the abdominal cavity, 

 chest, or sujjerticial connective tissue. 



Sometimes delivery is possible with the aid of traction. But in the 

 great majority of instances, when the head and fore-feet have passed 

 through the os, further progress appears to be impossible. In these 

 cases we have extreme distention, but even in some of them delivery 

 by traction is not hopeless. Cazeaux' says of this condition in the 

 human fa'tus : " The abdominal parietes have been observed to yield 

 in such a way that a large portion of the tumour remained above the 

 inlet, while the trunk gradually descended into the pelvis ; and when 

 once a part of the abdomen had cleared the passage, the fluid escaped 

 into it and towards the point where there was least resistance, the 

 volume of the part still in the pelvis progressively diminishing, and 

 delivery being finally accomplished naturally." 



Saint-Cyr is of opinion that it is probable delivery has been effected 

 in a similar manner, in those cases in which the dropsical fa3tus of 

 animals has been extracted without operation or mutilation. 



Sometimes the walls of the abdomen give way, as in the case recorded 

 by Courjon."^ This veterinarian attended a Cow. three years old, which 



' (iiirlt tintl Hertwig's Magazin, vol. viii. 



- It'ifl., vol. ix. 



^ Journal di Vt'ft'rinnire du ^fidi, 1864. 



* Handbuch dcr ThitriirzfUrhen Gcliurlshiilfe, p. 429. 



* Traite T/tt'orcli'pte et Pratique de VArt dfn Arcouchem€nt!>, p. 659. 

 ^ Rainard, op. cit., p. 485. 



