DISEASES OP THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 185 



be sufficiently straightened by force a knife must be employed to cut 

 across the cords behind the knee, when the limbs may be straightened 

 sufficiently. 



FORE LIMBS FLEXED AT KNEE — FLEXOR TENDONS UNSHORTENED. 



This is mostly seen in cases in which the body of the calf is in the 

 proper position, its back being turned up toward the back of the dam, 

 and in cows with a drooping abdomen. The feet have been supposed 

 to catch beneath the brim of the pelvis, and being retarded while the 

 head advances into the passages, they get bent at the knee and the 

 nose and knees present. (PL XVI, fig. 2.) The calf, however, is not 

 an inanimate body advanced by the mere contraction of the womb, 

 but it moves its limbs freely under the stimulus of the unwonted com- 

 pression, and in moving the feet as they are advanced they slip down 

 over the pelvic brim and finding no other firm support they bend back 

 until, under the impulsion, they can no longer straighten out again. 

 The knees, therefore, advance with the neck and head, but the feet 

 remain bent back. The result is that the upper part of the limb is 

 also flexed, and the shoulder blade and arm bone with their masses of 

 investing muscles are carried backward and applied on the side of the 

 chest, greatly increasing the bulk of this already bulky part. As the 

 elbow is carried back on the side of the chest, the forearm from elbow 

 to knee further increases the superadded masses of the shoulder and 

 renders it difficult or impossible to drag the mass through the pas- 

 sages. When the fore limbs are fully extended, on the contrary, the 

 shoulder blade is extended forward on the smallest and narrowest part 

 of the chest, the arm bone with its muscles is in great part applied 

 against the side- of the back part of the neck, and the forearm is con- 

 tinued forward by the side of the head so that the nose lies between 

 the knees. In this natural presentation the presenting body of the 

 calf forms a long wedge or cone, the increase of which is slow and 

 gradual until it reaches the middle of the chest. 



The difficulty of extending the fore limbs will be in proportion to 

 the advance of the head through the pelvic cavity. In the early stage 

 all that is necessary may be to introduce the oiled hand, the left one 

 for the right leg or the right one for the left, and passing the hand from 

 the knee on to the foot to seize the foot in the palm, bend it forcibly on 

 the fetlock, and lift it up over the brim of the pelvis, the knee being, 

 of course, pressed upward against the spine. As soon as the foot has 

 been raised above the brim of the pelvis (into the passage) the limb 

 can be straightened out with the greatest ease. 



When, however, the shoulders are already engaging in the pelvis 

 the feet can not thus be lifted up, and to gain room a repeller (PL XX, 

 fig. 7) must be used to push back the body of the calf. This is an 

 instrument with a long straight stem, divided at the end into two short 

 branches (2 to 3 inches long) united to the stem by hinges so that they 



