DISEASES. OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 189 
find no further obstacle. When a tumor 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 écraseur, the chain being 
passed around the pedicel and gradually tightened until that is torn 
through. 
Hernia of THE woMmB.—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 umbilical 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 on her side 
or back and gravitation brought to the aid of manipulation in effect- 
ing the 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 OF THE woms.—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 
