198 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



them well back into the womb and hold them there. Meanwhile drag 

 upon the ropes attached to the two other feet so as to bring them into 

 the passage (or in case of the anterior extremity on the two foot ropes 

 and the head one). The other feet must be pushed back into the 

 womb until the body of the calf is fully engaged in the passages. 

 After this they can no longer find an entrance, but must follow as the 

 body escapes. 



NEGLECTED AND AGGRAVATED CASES. 



In laying down the above rules for giving assistance in critical cases 

 of calving it is not intimated that all cases and stages can be success- 

 fully dealt with. Too often assistance is not sought for many hours 

 or even days after labor pains and the escape of the waters intimate 

 the danger of delay, and not seldom the long delay has been filled up 

 with unintelligent and injurious attempts at rendering assistance, vio- 

 lent pulling when resistance is insurmountable without change of posi- 

 tion, injuries to the vagina and womb by ill-considered but too forcibly 

 executed attempts to change the position, the repeated and long-con- 

 tinued contact with rough hands and rougher ropes and hooks, the 

 gashes with knives and lacerations with instruments in ignorant hands, 

 the infecting material introduced on filthy hands and instruments, and 

 the septic inflammations started in the now dry and tender passages 

 and womb, and not infrequently the death, putrefaction, and bloating 

 of the calf in the womb, rendering the case extremely unpromising, and 

 making it impossible to apply successfully many of the measures above 

 recommended. The labor pains of the cow may have practically ceased 

 from exhaustion ; the passages of the vagina may be so dry, tender, 

 friable, red, and swollen that it requires considerable effort even to 

 pass the oiled hand through them, and the extraction of the calf or 

 any portion of it through such a channel seems a hopeless task ; the 

 womb may be equally dry and inflamed and swollen, so that its lining 

 membrane or even its entire thickness is easily torn; the fetal mem- 

 branes have lost their natural unctuous and slippery character, and 

 cling firmly to the dry walls of the womb, to the dry skin of the calf, 

 or to the hands of the operator; the dead and putrefying calf may be 

 so bloated with gases that the womb has been overdistended by its 

 presence, and the two adhere so closely that the motion of the one on 

 the other is practically impossible. In other cases reckless attempts 

 to cut the calf in pieces have left raw surfaces with projecting bones 

 which dangerously scratch and tear the womb and passages. 



In many cases the extreme resort must be had of cutting the fetus 

 to pieces (embryotomy), or the still more redoubtable one of Csesarean 

 section (extraction through the flank). 



DISSECTION OF THE UNBORN CALF (EMBRYOTOMY). 



In some cases the dissection of the calf is the only feasible means 

 of delivering it through the natural passages; and while it is espe- 



