450 



F(ETAL DYSTOKIA. 



With the Calf, the neck of which is comparatively short, the head is 

 in most cases no farther back than the shoulder, though it may be as 

 high as the withers or as low as the sternum. It is, therefore, possible 

 to reach it ; and though its relatively large size is a great obstacle to 

 reduction, yet in the majority of instances this adjustment can be 

 accomplished, and especially if the young creature is alive, as its spon- 

 taneous movements aid the operation ; for this and other reasons 

 ah'eady alluded to, the Calf is more frequently extracted alive than the 

 Foal. 



As a rule, reduction of the displacement is indispensable in delivery, 

 the head and neck, or shoulder, forming too voluminous a mass to pass 

 through the pelvic canal ; though rare instances are recorded in which 

 birth took place with the neck bent. 



Anterior Peesentation 



Fig. 135. 



Lateral Deviation of the Head towards the 

 Abdomen. 



With the Foal the head may also not go beyond the region of the 

 shoulder, and the case is then generally not so serious as with the 

 Calf, the head being smaller and the displacement more easily reduced. 

 But, as has been pointed out, owing to the long and flexible neck of 

 this creature, the head is most frequently deeper in the uterine cavity — 

 towards the side of the chest, abdomen, flank, or even the croup. 

 Here the hand cannot reach it, and reduction is nearly always impos- 

 sible ; besides, the foetus succumbs soon after the commencement of 

 the labour-pains — death being due in many, if not in all, cases to pre- 

 mature separation of the maternal and foetal placentae. However, 

 owing to the thinner and more flexible neck and the smaller head, 

 when the latter was lodged in the flank the foetus has been delivered 

 by energetic traction. 



