574 ACCIUEXTS AFTER PARTUFJTIOX. 



as soon as possible after the uterus has been emptied ; for this purpose 

 nothing is better than carbohsed soap. On the shghtest sensation of 

 uneasiness in the arm, advice should be taken with regard to it, as an 

 attack of Ecthyma joarturitionis is often a serious affair, and has 

 necessitated the amputation of fingers, and even the greater portion of 

 the arm. 



So dangerous and unpleasant, indeed, is the removal of a putrid 

 placenta (the odour being often most sickening), that disinfection by 

 intra-uterine injections of solution of cresyl, carbolic acid (2 per cent.), 

 boric acid, corrosive sublimate (1 to 2,000), etc., is regularly practised 

 by some veterinary surgeons. The interior of the uterus is first vrashed 

 out with warm water by means of a powerful syringe, or a long india- 

 rubber tube to which a funnel is attached, and into which the water 

 is poured. The injection is continued until the water that comes away 

 from the vagina is colourless and odourless ; then the disinfectant can 

 be thrown into the uterus, and the arm introduced to remove the 

 placenta. But the latter measure is rarely necessary, as the injections 

 generally suffice to detach it. 



As the practitioner is also exposed to septic infection b}^ inhalation, 

 and as this has occurred most frequently while fasting, it is advisable 

 to fortify the body against this risk by taking some food before pro- 

 ceeding with the uterine evacuation and cleansing. 



CHAPTEE 11. 

 Post Partum Haemorrhage. 



H^MOBEHAGE from the uterus or " flooding," after abortion or the 

 birth of the foetus at the ordinary term — an accident so frequent and 

 alarming in woman — would appear to be far from common in the 

 domesticated animals. This difference between the female of the 

 human species and that of animals, is evidently due to the dissimilarity 

 in organisation of the uterine mucous membrane in them, particularly 

 at the insertions of the ijlacenta fctnlis ; as well as to the absence of 

 those immense vascular lacunas which exist in the uterus of woman, 

 the walls of which are so thin and fragile as to be easily torn when the 

 placenta is detached, and which renders insufficient contraction of the 

 uterus after delivery such a grave matter. Another reason for the 

 infrequency of metrorrhagia in the veterinary obstetrist's patients, is 

 the great rarity of placenta j^Ta'via in them,^ and which is a somewhat 

 common cause of hemorrhage either during or after delivery in woman. 



Nevertheless, whether owing to some anatomical or pathological 

 peculiarity, to atony of the uterine walls, rupture of vessels during 

 removal of the foetal placenta, or even during its spontaneous expulsion, 

 almost every practitioner of any experience has met with cases of 

 metrorrhagia of a more or less alarming character. So serious, indeed, 

 is this haemorrhage, that the mortality has been estimated as high as 

 73 per cent, of the cases reported. 



At p. 197, metrorrhagia was alluded to as occurring during pregnancy. 



1 Franck [Handhnch de ThieriirztUchen GehnrtshidJle,&nA Zeitschriftfiir Ilticrmedkin) 

 has clearly demonstrated the occurrence of placenta prajvia in animals. At pp. 87, 88, 

 reference has been made to it, and cases of it are frequently mentioned in veterinary 

 literature. 



