DYSTOKIA UUE TO THE IIIXDLIMBS. 429 



view, Saiut-Cyr recommends very oblique traction on the fcutus — to the 

 right or left side, so as to force one stifle farther into the canal than 

 the other ; and this has always proved successful when the creature 

 had not been already too mucli pulled at, as when such has been the 

 case the stifles are firmly and immovably wedj,'ed in the inlet. Then it is 

 necessary to push the fu'tus forward into the uterus, if this be possible, 

 or at least one of the stifles, and if this be effected, then have recourse 

 to oblique traction, so as to get one stifle into the passage in advance 

 of the other. 



If the Cow is lying on one side and exhausted, the same authority 

 advises that the practitioner take the body of the calf in his arms, and 

 pull it up vertically ; if not successful on this side, have the Cow turned 

 on the other side, and again try vertical traction. On every occasion 

 in which this procedure was adopted the result was satisfactory. 



Another method of overcoming the difficulty is by slightly rotating 

 the body of the fcetus. This can be accomplished by passing a double 

 cord around its loins, as near to the maternal vulva as possible, and 

 passing a strong stick through the loop, so as to give the cord two 

 turns and make it tight round the body ; the foetus is held up on a 

 level with the vulva, and on the word being given its body is twisted 

 from left to right, simultaneously with a turn of the lever in the same 

 direction, when the obstacle is overcome and delivery can be com- 

 pleted. 



When it happens that unskilful people have been exercising great 

 force before the arrival of the practitioner, and the hind-limbs are so 

 firmly fixed that it is impossible to move them, then embryotomy nmst 

 be had recourse to ; the body being divided at the loins and the posterior 

 portion pushed into the uterus, where it can be turned, and the stifles 

 carried into the genital canal one after the other. 



The Ilind-Limhs, flexed wider the Body, pass tvitJi it into the Genital 



Canal. 



This malpresentation, known to the German veterinary obstetrists 

 as the " vertical -abdominal " or "dog-sitting position" (Bauch- 

 Vcrtikallaije, Hunde-Sitziije Lar/c), is not very common, and is one of 

 the most formidable, perhaps, which can be encountered. First 

 described by Canu in 1837,' it has been alluded to by a numl)er of 

 veterinary surgeons, and it has also been mentioned in every work on 

 veterinary obstetrics published on the Continent. 



Since that time it has been met with in the Mare, as well as the 

 Cow, and consists essentially in the advance of the hind-limbs of the 

 foetus into the pelvic canal, at the same time as the anterior part of 

 the body, the position of the young creature being consequently more 

 or less vertical, the body being posteriorly bent at the loins. How it 

 gets into this position is not accurately known, but the hind-feet must 

 be closely applied to the abdomen as the chest is entering the inlet ; 

 and probably the compression the fu'tus then experiences causes it to 

 struggle with the posterior limbs to free itself from the discomfort. 



As in the preceding deviation, nothing is at first known of the 

 existence of the displacement. Paiturition commences and appears to 

 be going on favourably ; the foetus, in the dorso-sacral position, arrives 

 at the inlet, the head and fore-limbs in advance as in normal birth. Pro- 

 gressive expulsion may continue until the head of the young animal is 

 ' RecufU dt if'decint VtUrinaire, 1837, p. -145. 



