206 DISEASES’ OF THE HORSE. 
made with almost perfect safety so long as the organ is closely 
wrapped in the bandage. Once a portion has been introduced into 
the vagina the rest will usually follow with increasing ease, and the 
operation should be completed with the hand and arm extended the 
full length within the womb and moved from point to point so as to 
straighten out all parts of the organ and insure that no portion still 
remain inverted within another portion. Should any such partial 
inversion be left it will give rise to straining, under the force of which 
it will gradually increase until the whole mass will be protruded as 
before. The next step is to apply a truss as an effectual me- 
chanical barrier to further escape of the womb through the vulva. 
The simplest is made with two 1-inch ropes, each about 18 feet long, 
each doubled and interwoven at the bend, as seen in Plate XIV, 
figure 4. The ring formed by the interlacing of the two.ropes is 
adjusted around the vulva, the two ends of the one rope are carried 
up on the right and left of the tail and along the spine, being wound 
around each other in their course, and are finally tied to the upper 
part of the collar encircling the neck. The remaining two ends, 
belonging to the other rope, are carried downward and forward be- 
tween the thighs and thence forward and upward on the sides of 
the belly and chest to be attached to the right and left sides of the col- 
lar. These ropes are drawn tightly enough to keep closely applied to 
the opening without chafing, and will fit still more securely when the 
mare raises her back to strain. It is desirable to tie the mare short so 
that she may be unable to lie down for a day or two, and she should 
be kept in a stall with the hind parts higher than the fore. Violent 
straining may be checked by full doses of opium (one-half dram), 
and any costiveness or diarrhea should be obviated by a suitable laxa- 
tive or binding diet. 
In some mares the contractions are too violent to allow of the return 
of the womb, and full doses of opium one-half dram, laudanum 2 
ounces, or chloral hydrate 1 ounce, may be demanded, or the mare 
must be rendered insensible by ether or chloroform. 
RUPTURE, OR LACERATION, OF THE WOMB. 
This may occur from the feet of the foal during parturition, or 
from ill-directed efforts to assist, but it is especially liable to take 
place in the everted, congested, and friable organ. The resultant 
dangers are bleeding from the wound, escape of the bowels through 
the opening and their fatal injury by the mare’s feet or otherwise, and 
peritonitis from the extension of inflammation from the wound and 
from the poisonous action of the septic liquids of the womb escaping 
into the abdominal cavity. The first object is to close the wound, 
but unless in eversion of the womb this is practically impossible. In 
the last-named condition the wound must be carefully and accurately 
