raSEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 189 



find no further obstacle. When a tiimor is too large to allow delivery 

 the only resort is to remove it, but before proceeding it must be 

 clearly made out that the obstruction is a mass of diseased tissue, and 

 not a sac containing intestines. If the tumor hangs by a neck it can 

 usually be most safely removed by the ecraseur, the chain being 

 passed around the pedicel and gradually tightened until that is torn 

 through. 



Hernia or the woMB.^The rupture of the musculo-fibrous floor of 

 the belly and the escape of the gravid womb into a sac formed by 

 the peritoneum and skin hanging toward the ground is described by 

 all veterinary obstetricians, yet it is very rarely seen in the mare. 

 The form of the fetus can be felt through the walls of the sac, so 

 that it is easy to recognize the condition. Its cause is usually exter- 

 nal violence, though it may start from an umbiUcal hernia. When 

 the period of parturition arrives, the first effort should be to return 

 the fetus within the proper abdominal cavity, and this can sometimes 

 be accomplished with the aid of a stout blanket gradually tightened 

 around the belly. This failing, the mare may be placed oh her side 

 or back and gravitation brought to the aid of manipulation in effect- 

 ing tne return. Even after the hernia has been reduced the relaxed 

 state of the womb and abdominal walls may serve to hinder parturi- 

 tion, in which case the oiled hand must be introduced through the 

 vagina, the fetus brought into position, and traction coincident with 

 the labor pains employed to produce delivery. 



Twisting of the neck or the wosib. — ^This condition is very 

 uncommon in the mare, though occasionally seen in the cow, owing 

 to the greater laxity of the broad ligaments of the womb in that 

 animal. It consists in a revolution of the womb on its own axis, 

 so that its right or left side will be turned- upward (quarter revolu- 

 tion), or the lower surface may be turned upward and the upper 

 surface downward (half revolution). The effect is to throw the 

 narrow neck of the womb into a series of spiral folds, turning in 

 the direction in which the womb has revolved, closing the neck and 

 rendering distention and dilatation impossible. 



The period and pains of parturition arrive, but in spite of contin- 

 ued efforts no progress is made, neither water bags nor liquids 

 appearing. The oiled hand introduced into the closed neck of the 

 womb will readily detect the spiral direction of the folds on its inner 

 surface. 



The method of relief which I have successfully adopted in the 

 cow may be equally effective in the mare. The dam is placed (with 

 her head uphill) on her right side if the upper folds of the spiral 

 turn toward the right, and on her left side if they turn toward the 

 left, and the oiled hand is introduced through the neck of the womb 

 and a limb or other part of the body of the fetus is seized and 



