SYMI'IlVSlitTiiMV. 561 



tlie wouiul, opeiicil, and each faHus and its membranes removed 

 separately. The after-treatment will be the same. For enlarging the 

 abdominal and peritoneal incisions, small sharp scissors will be found 

 very useful and safe, the blade with the blunt point being introduced. 



The bad results to be apprehended from the operation are septic 

 metritis, or peritonitis, or both ; abscess at the seat of the incision, or 

 adhesion of the abdominal organs to this part. 



CH.\PTER VIII. 

 Symphysiotomy. 



Sv.Mi'HVSiOTOMv, as the name implies, consists in dividing the ischio- 

 pubic symphysis throughout ; so that, by allowing the bones to sepa- 

 rate somewhat in the pubic region, the pelvic cavity may be enlarged, 

 and the passage of the foetus through it rendered possible. But even 

 in woman, with every advantage and appliance, and after a most serious 

 mutilation, the separation procured between the bones is intinitesimal, 

 and therefore can have but little influence on the progress of the foetus. 

 And when we remember that in woman the mortality is more than 

 ^•^2 per cent., while among those which survive many ai'e permanently 

 disabled, and those which recover often require months before conva- 

 lescence is established, it will be understood that the operation can 

 never, with our present knowledge, be reckoned among those which the 

 veterinary obstetrist can successfully practise. It may also be suflicient 

 to notice the fact that in animals the symphysis pubis, as a rule, soon 

 becomes ossified. The operation does not appear to have been resorted 

 to in veterinary obstetricy, and it would require a bold operator to 

 attempt it. 



CHAPTER IX. 

 Artificial Premature Birth. 



At p. 294 it was explained that, in order to obviate some of the difli- 

 culties occurring in pregnancy and parturition in animals, artificial 

 labour might be induced — /.<'., birth ctTected when the fa;tus has 

 attained such a stage of development as to be viable, but before the 

 period of normal parturition has been reached. Such a procedure may 

 be necessary when there is deformity of the maternal pelvis, or tumours 

 thereon or therein ; excessive size of the foetus — absolute or relative ; 

 protracted gestation ; serious paraplegia ; eclampsia ; cerebral conges- 

 tion ; ante-parturient exhaustion from the presence of too many fa'tuses; 

 prolapsus of the vagina and uterus ; transverse presentations, etc. 



This measure is often resorted to in the human female, and with 

 gi-eat advantage, for by it both parent and offspring may be saved ; 

 whereas if not adopted, one or both might perish when pregnancy came 

 to an end. 



It has even been suggested that in animals it might be made available 

 in those cases in which they have become pregnant when too young, 

 when the male has been disproportionately large, or — as is often the case 

 with Dogs — belonged to a large-headed breed. 



When the foetus is expelled from the uterus before it is viable — before 



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