Extra-Uterine Pregnancy 419 



to have later undergone a process of dessication and in this state 

 remains as an inert body for an indefinite period of time. We 

 have few records of how long a fetus may thus remain as an inert 

 body in our domestic animals, because, as a rule, it is only dis- 

 covered upon slaughter and the time at which it developed has 

 not been determined. In woman, where the observations have 

 been more accurate, there are cases recorded where an abdominal 

 fetus has remained inert and without inconvenience to the mother 

 during a period of more than 50 years. 



The degree of dessication in extra-uterine pregnancy is not 

 equal to that observed in intra-uterine mummification, as a com- 

 parison of Figs. 81 and 86 well show. Extra- uterine fetuses are 

 comparatively plump, usually normal in size and development 

 and are closely invested by tough, adherent membranes. Intra- 

 uterine mummified fetuses are free from membranous attach- 

 ments, greatly shrivelled, discolored and gnarled. 



There are few cases, indeed, in which extra- uterine pregnancy 

 has caused any known disease or discomfort in animals. Flem- 

 ing cites a number of cases in which the fetus has undergone 

 putrid decomposition, with the formation of an abscess, which 

 has ruptured into the intestines or other viscera or, more fre- 

 quently, externally through the abdominal wall. He classes 

 these cases as extra-uterine pregnancy, but submits no evidence 

 to show that the fetus was not in the uterus until it decomposed 

 and finally escaped therefrom as a part of the contents of an ab- 

 scess within the uterine cavity. We shall refer further to this 

 subject under the heads of " Torsion of the Uterus, " "Atresia 

 of the Os Uteri," and " Putrid Decomposition of the Fetus." 



The diagnosis of extra-uterine pregnancy is difiicult in the 

 living animal. In carnivora, the fetus may possibly be recog- 

 nized, and its location outside the uterus determined, by extra- 

 abdominal manipulation. However, this is difiicult, as we can- 

 not readily trace the non-gravid uterus by this means. Even 

 though we can feel a fetus through the abdominal walls, we can 

 not be sure that it is not in the uterus. It may be attached 

 firmly to the abdominal floor, which would constitute presump- 

 tive evidence that it is extra-uterine, but the proof is not final, 

 since one of the uterine cornua, with a fetus included, may be 

 firmly adherent to the abdominal wall and thus nullify the diag- 

 nosis. In our larger domestic animals, an exploration of the 



