FUNCTIONS OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 1 47 



at the ends of the blades. An essential which should not be 

 lost sight of in the forceps for such small animals as the bitch 

 or cat, is that the blades should be sufficiently long to seize 

 not only the head, but much, if not all of the body of the 

 foetus. If they are too short in the blades they cannot be 

 made to grasp sufficient of the fcetus to remove it ; while the 

 joint being close to the vulva, or even within the vagina, is 

 likely to pinch the mucous membrane and cause considerable 

 pain. 



" Hill, of Wolverhampton, who has had extensive expe- 

 rience in this direction, uses a small and slightly modified 

 form of the human forceps for bitches ; there is a spring be- 

 tween the branches of the handle (Fig-. 12).* 



" Weber has proposed a forceps for these small animals, 

 and it has been preferred by some authorities to the ordinary 

 model. It is a modification of one for a long time employed 

 by Leblanc, which again was fashioned after an instrument 

 designed by Hunter. This is composed of an iron stalk, about 

 ten inches in length, with a wooden handle at one end and 

 two blades or bows at the other. On this stalk glides a long 

 enveloping metal tube, which, near the handle, has a wide 

 ferrule, or shield, that allows it to be pushed along by the thumb 

 of the hand holding the instrument, and thus to bring the 

 blades together. A nut, or female screw, running on a screwed 

 portion of the stalk, near the handle, is intended to assist the 

 pressure of the thumb when this is insufficient (Fig. 13). A 

 finger of the other hand introduced into the vagina guides the 

 instrument, and allows the part of the fcetus to be seized to 



» These forceps were made according to my directions for private use, 

 as will be perceived from Fig.' 12. There is a spring between the handles, 

 consequently the instrument must be closed before it can be inserted. The 

 handles are then relaxed in proportion to the requirements of the case, 

 ie to the vaginal distension necessary to pass the forceps on either side 

 behind the head of the pup. In small bitches, where the passage is much 

 contracted and it is difficult to manipulate with the fingers, the instru- 

 ment is useful in exerting a gradual strain on the wall of the vagina from 

 the spring pressure between the handles. 



