PATHOLOGY OF THE PARTURIENT OR PUERPERAL 



STATE. 



Grouped about the act of parturition, there is a highly inter- 

 esting and important series of accidents and diseases of the mother, 

 which require close study upon the part of the veterinary obstet- 

 rist. They occur in all animals, although one or another disease 

 or accident may be far more frequent in one species than in an- 

 other. These diseases, injuries or infections usually have some 

 definite time at which their foundation is chiefly laid, but there 

 are wide variations as to the exact time of the advent of the 

 symptoms. In some instances they may occur before parturition; 

 in others, during or after that act. Many of them pass by im- 

 perceptible gradations from one into another, which tends to ren- 

 der their classification somewhat difficult, and subjects any plan 

 which may be suggested to certain objections. For con- 

 venience, this group of affections may be divided into five 

 classes : Pathology of the Placenta ; Wounds and Injuries of the 

 Genital and Neighboring Organs ; Puerperal Infections ; Partu- 

 rient Eclamptic Diseases ; and Diseases of the Mammae. 



I. PATHOLOGY OF THE PLACENTA. 



Retention of the fetal Envelopes. Retained 

 Afterbirth. 



In dealing with the question of birth, we have already had oc- 

 casion to allude on page 516 to extra resistance of the chorion, 

 which, it has been claimed, sometimes imperils the life of the 

 fetus ; on page 742, to adhesions between the fetal membranes and 

 the fetus as a cause of difficult labor ; and on page 525, to the rup- 

 ture of the chorion and its expulsion with the other membranes, 

 in advance of the fetus, leading thereby to fetal death. These 

 conditions are rare, and relatively unimportant from an economic 

 standpoint. 



Retained placenta constitutes one of the most common and 

 serious maladies among the diseases of the puerperal state, espe- 

 cially in the cow. In considering normal birth, we have noted 

 that, as a consequence of that act and following closely upon 

 the expulsion of the fetus itself, there should normally occur a 

 separation of the fetal placenta from that of the mother and an 

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