512 OBtiTETllICAL OPEIIATIONS. 



in length (including the handle), and acts directly on the foetus without 

 any other appliance intervening ; while the short hooks have cords 

 attached to them, or they may fit on the finger of the operator by means 

 of a ring. Some sharp crotchets are jointed at the end curve, so as to 

 permit them to be more readily and safely introduced into the genital 

 passage by bringing the sharp point near the stalk, the curve being 

 restored by a spring when the fcetus is reached. But the advantages 

 of the jointed hooks are very few, while their strength is impaired and 

 their expense increased. In using the long or short pointed crotchets, 

 risk of injury to the maternal organs may be obviated, if the hand is 

 not found sufficient to guard the instrument during its introduction, by 

 fixing the point in a piece of cork or soft wood, to w^hich a long piece 

 of twine is attached ; when the crotchet is required to be implanted in 

 the foetus, this shield may be removed from the point, and withdrawn 

 from the genital organs by pulling at the end of the twine outside the 

 vulva. 



Blunt and sharp crotchets are much employed in veterinary obstetrics, 

 and are very valuable. The blunt crotchets are more particularly 

 resorted to when the foetus is alive, and it is hoped to extract it before 

 it is dead ; they are most serviceable in correcting deviations of the 

 head or limbs, and the long crotchet is especially useful in finding and 



Fig. 177. Fig. 178. 



Short Sharp Crotchet, Short Sharp Crotchet, 



WITH Broad or Flakged Point. with Eocnd Point. 



straightening the latter. The curve should be about four inches wide. 

 The finger crotchet may be usefully employed when the hand is fatigued 

 or paralysed by the uterine contractions. Blunt crotchets of a much 

 smaller size than those required for the larger animals can be most 

 successfully employed in delivering the Sow, Sheep, Goat, Bitch, or 

 Cat. 



Giinther's long porte-cord (Fig. 171) can be most effectively used as a 

 blunt crotchet and at the same time as a carrier of the cord. A German 

 long blunt crotchet has a concealed sharp blade in the concavity of the 

 curve ; by means of a spring in the hanclle this blade can be projected, 

 and the instrument will then do good work in embryotomy. 



With the sharp crotchet, the curve should certainly not be very wide; 

 the smaller it is the more readily it can be passed into the genital 

 passage, and the less chance of injury is there to the mother or 

 operator ; it should not be greater than the hand can cover. At the 

 same time, if the curve is too small, the crotchet does not obtain suffi- 

 cient hold of the fcetus, is readily torn out, and for this reason may be 

 most dangerous. The point should be so bent as to readily penetrate 

 the part in which it is determined to fix it, and the angle of the 

 curvature should be such that the more the crotchet is pulled at, the 

 deeper and more firmly the point will enter. 



