132 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 
Treatment.—lIf the enlargement is due to the first-named 
cause, rest, tonics (particularly the iodide of iron and 
potassium), and nourishing food are indicated. If from the 
second-named cause, Nature should without question be 
allowed to follow her course, or relief by depletion from 
internal and local agents must be adopted. [If it results 
from the latter-named causes, antiphlogistic measures must 
_be had recourse to—aperient medicine, leeches, fomenta- 
tions, and quietude. Castration is occasionally necessary 
in the last-named causes, but rarely if ever in the former. 
INVERSION OF THE VAGINA. 
This is very commonly seen in bitches who have had many 
litters of puppies, and who are of arelaxed and debilitated 
condition of system. It is frequently present during the 
period of cestrum, and as frequently disappears with the 
decline of that function. It has also arisen after connection 
when the animals have been suddenly or violently separated. 
Symptoms.—The presence or protrusion of a red, soft, 
smooth body at the orifice of the vagina, easily returnable, 
but which is again, unless proper means be resorted to 
quickly re-inverted.* In chronic cases the tumour invariably 
remains persistent. Difficulty in micturition is more or less, 
manifested, and febrile disturbance is occasionally present. 
Long exposure to air gives the mucous membrane a 
somewhat leaden tint, and it becomes wrinkled and covered 
with epithelium of a leathery nature. 
* In the bitch, inversion of the vagina has been sometimes mistaken 
for a condylomatous tumour; and cases are recorded in which tumours 
of this kind, protruding beyond the vulva, through insufficient exami- 
nation have been mistaken for inversion. Inversion of the bladder 
has also been confounded with that of the vagina. The pyriform cysts 
which sometimes form in that canal, and contain a clear citron-coloured 
fluid, have likewise been sometimes confounded with inversion of the 
vagina. 
To avoid errors which might have a serious tendency, a careful ex- 
amination must be made, and nothing should be attempted in the way 
of operation until the state of affairs is exactly deterinined. 
