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retentio secundinarum; operations during birth are of only 
small importance. 
The question is now, how to treat cows which retain their 
placenta? 
There are considerable differences of opinion on this 
question; some advise leaving the secundinae undisturbed, 
but the majority try to remove them. Others prescribe 
medicaments, but nearly all order irrigations with indis- 
criminately strong creolin—or lysol solutions. 
If the removal of the placenta is done with all care, and 
with proper consideration for all circumstances, it is with- 
out doubt the best treatment. 
It should be done within the first twenty-four hours after 
calving, at a time when the uterus is not yet contracted 
and the secundinae are still quite fresh. The wide open 
uterus permits an easy operation, and the danger of infec- 
tion is then as small as possible. It is absolutely impractica- 
ble to wait for a few days; if the secundinae do not go out 
in the first seven or eight hours, they only very rarely will 
without operation, and it is therefore senseless to wait. The 
operation has to be performed with the utmost care and 
cleanliness. 
The placenta should be removed entirely, but it does not 
matter very much if little remnants of it are left in the apices 
of the horns. If one is not able to remove the bulk of the 
secundinae, viz., if the connection between them and the 
uterus is too strong, or if the animal presses too much, one 
should desist from the operation. The new treatment with 
an injection of a normal salt solution into the vessels of the 
placenta seems to offer a splendid solution of many diff- 
culties. 
After the removal of the placenta I usually do not make 
an infusion, since the value of such a procedure at that time 
is doubtful. If a malignant infection has taken place before or 
during the operation, its development can not be prevented. 
The straining of the cow, furthermore, is harmful, and so is 
