JXrEJiSIDX OF THE UTERUS. 579 



to make it get up. The organ assumes a gangrenous or intensely 

 inflamed appearance, and the animal soon succumbs, either from the 

 nervous prostration resulting from its sufferings, or from the condition 

 of the uterus. 



In woman, sudden inversion of the uterus always leads immediately 

 to great general disturbance — the heart's action is deranged, and 

 syncope, convulsions, vomiting, etc., may sometimes be caused by the 

 sudden change in the position of the uterus. More frequently those 

 symptoms depend upon acute cerebral aniemia, to which the sudden 

 emptying of the contents of the uterus already predisposes, but which 

 must be still greater when not only these contents but the whole oi-gan 

 itself passes out of the abdominal cavity. The blood then rushes into 

 the vessels of this cavity, which are suddenly under a greatly diminished 

 pressure, and the cerebral aniemia that ensues is due to the scanty 

 supply which the upper half of the trunk now receives. 



A similar condition is sometimes — though rarely — observed in 

 animals, and particularly in the Mare. 



Complications. 



One of the ordinary complications of this accident, is the adherence 

 of the fcetal placenta to the uterine surface ; though this is much more 

 frequent with animals which have a nmltiple placenta — Cow, Sheep, 

 and Goat, than with the Mare, Ass, Sow, Carnivorous animals, or the 

 Rabbit. 



The inversion of the uterus — when complete — also brings about dis- 

 placement of the vagina ; the deeper portion of this part is found 

 folded on the neighbouring surface of the cervix ; the bladder and 

 inferior wall of the rectum are also drawn into the middle of the 

 pelvic canal, and occupy the place the uterus has quitted ; the meatus 

 urinariiis is doubled on itself, and so compressed that no urine can 

 pass through it ; while the ureters continuing to carry that fluid to 

 the bladder, this reservoir soon becomes greatly distended, without 

 relief being possible. Hence results another source of suffering, and 

 another cause of exhausting efforts added to those occasioned by the 

 prolapsed uterus. In certain cases there may also exist prolapsus of 

 the rectum, and displacement, or even inversion, of the bladder. 



The uterus may also be wounded or torn, either from bad manage- 

 ment during parturition, or from injudicious attempts at reposition ; 

 or the injury may be due to Rats, Cats, Dogs, or Pigs gnawing at the 

 bleeding mass ; sometimes it is the creature itself, or a neighbouring 

 animal which inflicts the damage. 



Contact with the air, and particularly with foreign bodies, induces 

 inflammation, which frequently runs to on gangrene, and this to dissolu- 

 tion. Gangrene readily occurs in the Sheep. Sometimes perforation 

 ^f th*^ vagina or uterus, arising at times from sloughing of a gangrenous 

 patch, has caused fatal peritonitis ; in other cases pelvic abscesses have 

 formed. 



After reduction has been effected, metritis and metro-peritonitis may 

 appear ; this is not at all unlikely in the Mare. Lafosse mentions 

 paraplegia also as a complication ; this may be a consequence of 

 gangrene and septic infection. 



An exceptional complication is hernia of the intestines, through a 

 rupture in the uterus. It may be noted that in prolapsus uteri in the 

 Mare, it has happened that the colon has followed the fundus of the 



