158 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 



point the less firm would be the hold, since the substance 

 to be secured is somewhat of a pulpy nature ; whereas, by- 

 using as broad and flat a point as possible, the force is 

 exerted on a larger surface, and the grasp is proportionately 

 the more likely to be retained ; the object being not to 

 rend the foetus or tear it away, but to gently pull it through 

 the vagina, using only so much violence as the judgment 

 assures us is imperative for the accomplishment of the pur- 

 pose." 



A few weeks since, I was requested, whilst driving my 

 round in the evening, to attend a fox-terrier bitch, which 

 had given birth to a whelp early in the morning, and had 

 continued throughout the day in labour. On my arrival I 

 found the head of a large pup in the passage. I tried in 

 vain to pass a loop over it, but it was too tightly wedged 

 for me to do so. I then had recourse to a pair of silver 

 sugar-tongs ; but these were too soft for the pur- 

 pose (otherwise, if electro, they are a capital sub- 

 stitute for forceps). I was loath to sacrifice the whelp, 

 which was alive and close at hand ; but having no 

 instruments with me, and the owner being exceedingly fond 

 of the bitch, which was becoming exhausted,! was compelled 

 to do so. Having procured a small ordinary meat-skewer 

 (Fig. 20), I bent the pointed end in the shape of a hook. 



FIG. 20. 



This< using my finger as a guide, 1 inserted between the 

 branches of the lower jaw, and by gradual traction drew 

 forth the head ; then, seizing the whelp by the neck, I con- 

 tinued firm, steady pulling, in a few minutes extracting the 

 whole, which proved to be almost double the size of the 

 first-born. Considerable haemorrhage followed. Some 



