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 inthe passage. I tried in 
vain to pass a loop over it, but it was too tightly wedged 
for me todo 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, 1 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, I 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 hemorrhage followed. Some 
