THE GENERATIVE AtPARATtJS. 189 



' ' Dogs ') . Fleming draws attention to thefact that in small 

 bitches the use of forceps increases the difficulties of 

 parturition, and that therefore extractors are, in such 

 diminutive animals, much preferable. The extractors are 

 to be fixed on the neck of the foetus with a view to the 

 exercise of direct traction. Two kinds are mentioned, 

 the complex one of Defays, and the very simple one of 

 Breulet (which closely resembles Mayhew's instrument). 

 Of forceps, as available for larger bitches, there are several 

 kinds, those like polypus forceps, such as Hill's and 

 Defays', and that modified from one in use in human 

 practice by Weber. Defays points out that it is most diffi- 

 cult to apply an instrument in shape like that of the 

 accoucheur's ordinary forceps, owing to the neck of the 

 foetus in carnivora being so thick, and the difference in 

 volume between it and head far less than in the human 

 foetus. So that when the forceps is used, the bow of the 

 blades presses on the neck, slips under the throat, and the 

 head escapes from them (Fleming, ' Obstetrics'). When the 

 pup is dead, delivery is more difficult than when living ; 

 rupture of the membrane generally occurs with those 

 which come last when several are produced at a time, but 

 ruptured membranes are almost invariably found when the 

 pup is dead. The gradual passage of a decomposed 

 foetus is much rarer in the bitch than in the cow, but it 

 occurs when the young one has been contained in a hernia. 

 The crochet, as used in extraction by Mayhew, is described 

 in the ' Veterinarian ' for 1847. It is a human crochet 



Fig. 50. — Crochet (Mayhew). 



altered to order. " A piece of stout steel wire, about 

 twelve inches long, flattened at one extremity. Both ends 

 are crooked and made perfectly smooth or blunt, the 

 flattened hook being the larger of the two ... As 

 the pup, in consequence of the weakness of the abdominal 



