422 F(ETAL BYSTOKIA. 



and birth is usually quite as easy as if there were only one foetus. 

 Indeed, it is sometimes easier, from the fact that parturition either 

 occurs before the full period of gestation has expired, and the progeny 

 are therefore not so largely developed ; or if the usual term has been 

 reached, it nearly always happens that the twins are smaller than in 

 uniparous births. When the most advanced foetus is expelled, a variable 

 period elapses before the birth of the second takes place. During this 

 interval the uterus is accommodating itself to its altered conditions, 

 and preparing for the expulsion of the remaining foetus ; while the 

 parent remains restless, pays little, if any, attention to the young 

 creature already born, and manifests a particular anxiety, which is an 

 almost certain indication that parturition is not completed. When the 

 uterus has got rid of its occupants, the mother then turns its attention 

 to the offspring. 



This is the ordinary course of affairs ; but it is not always so fortunate. 

 In some instances, after the expulsion of the first foetus the uterus is 

 seized with a kind of inertia, and labour may be suspended for hours, 

 even for days, and sometimes more than a week.^ During this suspen- 

 sion the parent at times gives indications of uneasiness by pawing, 

 looking at the sides now and then, straining at intervals perhaps, and 

 not infrequently exhibiting symptoms of colic, while the milk retains 

 all the characters of colostrum until the other foetus is born. 



Eetention of the second foetus after a certain time is fatal to its exist- 

 ence ; even in animals with a multiple placenta — such as the Cow, 

 whose foetus retains its vitality much longer than that of those whose 

 placenta is single, like the Mare — the retained foetus has never, accord- 

 ing to Saint-Cyr, been known to exist forty-eight hours after the birth 

 of the first. 



This suspension of labour in twin birth, and which is not at all infre- 



^ This uterine inertia, scarcely noticed by veterinary writers as occurring in mul- 

 tiparous animals, we have often observed. One of these cases may be alluded to. A 

 medium-sized Bull-terrier Bitch, belonging to a brother officer, required my assistance 

 the previous year, through being unable to pup. The animal had been in labour for some 

 time, and the head of a Puppy was in the vagina. This was easily removed by an instru- 

 ment hereafter to be described, as was another which we contrived to seize immediately 

 afterwards. These were all that the uterus contained, and they certainly were not too 

 large for the genital passage ; the uterus could not expel them. 



Some time afterwards, this officer, who had in the meantime removed to Portsmouth, 

 wrote to inform me that the Bitch was again pregnant, and owing to my having made him 

 acquainted with its uterine peculiarity, he was anxious to know what he should do when 

 its time was due for pupping. Recommending certain hygienic precautions, I advised 

 that nothing special should be attempted unless birth was delayed, as on the previous 

 occasion ; then a dose of tincture of ergot of rye wa-< to be administered, followed by 

 another if necessary. Subsequently, I had a letter stating that on the Thursday night 

 the Bitch had four small Pups, but there was no sign of milk. A dose of castor oil was 

 given, as symptoms of constipation were exhibited (due, in all probability, to fa;tal 

 retention) ; the following day the animal was in pain, "and as she was strong and well 

 in herself, I did not like to give the ergot of rye yet. However, on Saturday morning 

 she became very ill. and was scarcely able to stand up, and yet there was no milk. So 

 about ten o'clock, I gave her a drachm of tincture of ergot of rye (our prescription), and 

 about five p.m. she passed a dead pup, followed shortly hy five life ones. She is now 

 (Tuesday) all right, but all the live puppies died, save two." 



This case is interesting, as showing the tendency in some animals to uterine inertia ; 

 as testifying to the great value of ergot of rye — at least, with the Carnivora — its ecbolic 

 action on animals being denied by many veterinarians ; as proving that the death of one 

 f cetus i7i utero does not always imperil the existence of the others ; and as demonstrating 

 that, contrary to what occurs in the Mare and Cow, foetuses will exist in the uterus of 

 the Bitch for forty-eight hours after the expulsion of others, without succumbing, even 

 when one of their number is dead. 



