THE GENERATIVE apparatus. 177 



womb is much swollen and has been much lacerated by 

 friction against the ground or otherwise ; it may generally 

 be effected by expenditure of time and the exercise of 

 patience. The difficulty then arises of how to retain the 

 parts when the animal strains in consequence of uterine 

 pain or attempts to defsecate. Astringent and opiate in- 

 jections into the womb will here prove useful. Mayhew 

 has found much benefit from throwing in cold water. 

 The patient must be kept very quiet, receive laxative 

 diet, and the generative passages be thoroughly, though 

 not officiously, cleansed with astringent injections of not 

 too great strength. A small dose of castor-oil mixture 

 will prove useful. Fecundation may occur after this 

 serious accident, but it is advisable to keep the animal 

 from breeding for some time, or altogether unless per- 

 petuation of the breed be a special desideratum. 



Amputation op the Uterus or excision of the womb has 

 been performed without ill-consequences both in cases of 

 prolapsus, and, less frequently, in conjunction with the ope- 

 ration of laparotomy. .Numerous cases of this operation have 

 found a place in veterinary periodical literature. Perhaps 

 the most complicated was that recorded by Leech in vol. 

 xxxix of the 'Veterinarian,' p. 790. The patient was a 

 pointer bitch with irreducible uterine prolapsus. On 

 passing the catheter the recorder found the bladder in- 

 cluded in the protruding mass in which also, on incision 

 through the uterine wall, was found a piece of intestine. 

 The bladder and bowel were returned, and the hind parts 

 of the patient raised to retain them during the performance 

 of the operation, which was as follows : " A needle armed 

 with a strong ligature was passed through the neck of 

 the uterus, behind the meatus urinarius, including one 

 fourth of its substance, which being tightly tied, the 

 needle was again passed through another fourth and tied 

 in the same manner; then again through another fourth 

 in the same way, leaving one fourth up to this time free. 

 The whole of the neck of the uterus was then included in 

 one strong ligature, which closed the aperture into the 

 abdomen." The organ behind the ligatures was then cut 



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