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most painful operation is the introduction of the hand into 
the vagina and the insertion of the speculum, especially if 
the vagina is very narrow, as in heifers. The mucosa of the 
vagina is very sensitive to strong disinfecting solutions, and 
special care has to be taken not to let any of these solutions 
come into contact with the urethral mucosa; this would pro- 
duce much pain and restlessness. In cases with chronic in- 
flammations the mucosa of the cervix and of the vagina do 
not seem to be so very sensitive; the most irritating solu- 
tion seems to be the creolin, while the Lugol solution irri- 
tates the least. 
The only dangerous complication is the perforation of 
the uterus wall. If the contents of the uterus are putrid, a 
dangerous and possible lethal peritonitis may be the result. 
This happened twice to me; in the first case I perforated 
with my largest metal-catheter in a rather recent metritis. 
The cow contracted a peritonitis, but recovered after a long 
time. The second cow had aborted, and the uterus walls 
were very thin; I perforated with a rubber catheter and had 
the animal killed, as it developed a peritonitis. Beside 
these cases I had no other accident in the treatment of more 
than 4,000 animals. With good technique and the proper 
catheters, such as I use now, a perforation is nearly out of 
the question. 
In cases of catarrhal metritis a perforation with a sterile 
catheter is of no significance. 
I have made the important observation that one can 
sometimes irrigate a pregnant uterus without disturbing the 
pregnancy. In a number of cases the animals had been in 
heat such a short time ago that it was not possible to make 
the diagnosis of pregnancy; the uterus was enlarged, the 
walls thickened and the cervical canal open and secernating. 
JT made infusions, and found later that the animals were 
pregnant, without having been covered since the treatment. 
In the first cases I was dubious about the reliability of the 
records, but later became convinced and now I have on rec- 
