Functions, of the Generative Organs. 149 



forceps with advantage. Various patterns are in use, some 

 ■ of them fenestrated, others not ; some resemble polypus- 

 forceps, while others again are grooved, serrated, or toothed 

 at the ends of the blades. An essential which should not 

 be lost sight of in the forceps for such small animals as the 

 bitch or cat, is that the blades should be sufficiently long to 

 seize not only the head, but much, if not all of the body of 

 the fcetus. If they are too short in the blades they cannot 

 be made to grasp sufficient of the foetus to remove it; while 

 the joint being close to the vulva, or even within the vagina, 

 is likely to pinch the mucous membrane and cause con- 

 siderable pain. 



" Hill, of Wolverhampton, who has had extensive eicpe- 

 rience in this direction, uses a small and slightly modified 

 form of the human forceps for bitches ; there is a spring 

 between the branches of the handle. (Fig. 12).* 



" Weber has proposed a forceps for these small animals, 

 and it has been preferred by some authorities to the ordinary 

 model. It is a modification of one for a long time employed 

 by Leblanc, which again was fashioned after an instrument 

 designed by Hunter. This is composed of an iron stalk, 

 about ten inches in length, with a wooden handle at one 

 end and two blades or bows at the other. On this stalk 

 glides a long enveloping metal tube, which, near the handle, 

 has a wide ferrule, or shield, that allows it to be pushed 

 along by the thumb of the hand holding the instrument, and 

 thus to bring the blades together. A nut, or female screw, 

 running on a screwed portion of the stalk, near the handle, 



* These forceps were made according to my directions for private 

 use, as will be perceived from Fig. 12. There is a spring between the 

 handles, consequently the instrument must be closed before it can be 

 inserted. The handles are then relaxed in proportion to the require- 

 meets of the case, i.e., to the vaginal distension necessary to pass the 

 forceps on either side behind the head of the pup. In small bitches, 

 where the passage is much contracted, and it is difficult to manipulate 

 with the fingers, the instrument is useful in exerting a gradual strain 

 on the wall of the vagina from the spring pressure between the handles. 



