POULTRY DISEASES AND THEJIR TREATMENT. 171 



c. Atony and paralysis of the duct in which the muscular 

 walls are incapable of making any effective contraction at all. 



2. Complicated "egg bound" conditions in which the funda- 

 mental source of the trouble is not simply mechanical, and in 

 which usually the portions of the oviduct anterior to the uterus 

 are involved. In this general category the following sorts of 

 cases are to be included. 



a. Atony and paralysis of the upper portions of the ovi- 

 duct. This condition may exist for a long time without being 

 recognized. 



b. Inflammation of the oviduct leading to tyie formation of 

 fibrous exudate which accumulates in the duct, until it may form 

 a mass of relatively enormous size (usually with one or more 

 yolks as a nucleus) completely obstructing the duct, and event- 

 ually leading either to gangrene or rupture of the walls, or both. 



c. Volvolus, or twisting of the oviduct about its own long 

 axis, completely obliterating the cavity. 



d. Stenosis or stricture of the oviduct. This may result 

 from several causes. One frequent one is that in laying a very 

 large egg the oviduct wall becomes torn to greater or less degree, 

 and subsequently heals. The scar tissue contracts the cavity 



' and a stricture is thus caused. 



Treatment. Whether treatment is or is not likely to be ef- 

 fective depends upon which of the two main categories above 

 defined any given case belongs to. Simple obstruction of the 

 oviduct may be successfully treated. In cases of complicated 

 obstruction treatment is not indicated, for a variety of reasons. 

 These conditions are in the first place difficult to diagnose, and 

 offer little prospect of successful cure even after a diagnosis 

 has been made. 



The best advice which has come to our attention for the treat- 

 ment of the simple egg bound condition was published some 

 years ago in the English Journal "Poultry" and is here quoted 

 verbatim : 



"It is a good plan to watch those birds that are about to lay. 

 Should they visit the nest frequently during the course of the 

 day and leave without depositing an egg, it is almost certain that 

 something is wrong and when a pullet is in such a state there 

 are three good remedies that may be tried. The first is : Take 

 the bird up gently, and hold her so that her stern is over the 

 mouth of a jug of boiling water, that the steam arising there- 



