588 ACCIDENTS AFTER PAUTUrJTIOX. 



suggested that this distention plan should also be adopted for the larger 

 animals. 



It should be observed that reduction has been effected in large and 

 small animals by elevating the hind-quarters until they are almost 

 vertical, the weight of the uterus, with careful manipulation on the part 

 of the operator, carrying it down to its normal situation. 



Eetention of the Utekus. — Eeduction of the inverted uterus having 

 been accomplished, and everything done to remove the slightest traces 

 of invagination, the animal — unless serious injury has been inflicted on 

 the organ — immediately begins to look easier and happier, and the inex- 

 perienced would suppose that there was no further occasion for inter- 

 ference. The experienced obstetrist, however, is well aware that certain 

 precautions must be adopted against a possible recurrence of the accident. 

 True, this recurrence is to a certain extent provided for by raising the 

 croup of the animal as high as may be convenient, either by means of 

 litter or boards, and keeping the forehand low. But this is not always a 

 preventive, and veterinary obstetrists have therefore devised other means 

 for retaining the uterus in its place until all risk of another inversion 

 has passed away. These devices consist of pessaries, sutures, and 

 handaaes. 



Fig. 210. 

 Pad Pessary. 



Pessaries. — These are instruments of various forms, which are intro- 

 duced into the genital organs, and kept there for a certain time in order 

 to prevent displacement of the uterus after its reduction. There are 

 several described and used by veterinary obstetrists. 



The 2^(1 i)essary (Fig. 210) is a round piece of wood, from twenty to 

 twenty-five inches in length, with a hole at one end, through which 

 passes a loop of strong cord six to eight inches long ; at the other end 

 is a round pad, three or four inches in diameter, composed of tow or 

 rags, covered by a piece of soft cloth or oiled silk, and firmly tied to the 

 stalk by a piece of twine fixed in a small circular groove therein. 



In using this pessary, the pad is steeped in oil or melted lard ; it is 

 then carefully introduced into the vagina, placed against the cervix 

 uteri, and cords from each side of the loop at the other end, attached 

 to a surcingle round the chest, keep it firmly in its place. The pad por- 

 tion of the pessary may be of wood, though the elastic material is to be 

 preferred. A transverse piece of wood, with an eyelet at each end, and 

 made to move up and down the handle by means of a screw, is sometimes 

 substituted for the loop of cord. 



This pessary may be most usefully employed as a repositor, in effect- 

 ing reduction of the inverted uterus. 



The ring jjessary (Fig. 211) is equally simple, and is preferred by 

 some practitioners to the pad one. It is composed of a wooden, or 

 better, an iron ring, about two and a half inches in diameter, pierced by 

 an elongated or mortised hole at opposite sides, and of a strong wooden 



