194 THE DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



bitch, thirteen years old ; it could hardly have been a 

 foetus in foetu. Carter, of Burnley, describes ( c Veterin- 

 arian/ 1885, p. 403) a case of tubal foetation in a mastiff 

 bitch. For six months or more since pupping, she had 

 an offensive greenish-yellow discharge through the vagina j 

 she died suddenly. Post-mortem examination showed the 

 uterus much distended with pus, its lining membrane 

 flabby, pale, and thickened, and with numerous, short, 

 fawn-coloured hairs firmly embedded in its substance. 

 The left Fallopian tube very much elongated and distended 

 in its centre, resembling a horse's stomach in shape, con- 

 taining pus and six bones (humerus, sacrum, and four 

 cranial), completely ossified and partially covered with 

 fawn-coloured hair. The lining membrane of the tube was 

 thickened, corrugated, and deeply grooved ; probably 

 earlier in this case an " abdominal tumour/' supposed to 

 be uterine, might have been diagnosed and the Cesarean 

 operation performed. This most formidable effort of 

 surgery has been frequently attempted in emergency on 

 the bitch, generally without success, because only after the 

 vital powers have begun to flag. The fatality to the 

 mother is put at 60 per cent, by Franck, who considers 

 that this might be lessened if the operation were performed 

 on the right side, and with antiseptic precautions. He 

 quotes four cases out of forty-eight in all, in which the 

 female and one or more of the young were preserved alive ; 

 of these four patients three were bitches. Feser has 

 recorded* a case in which three puppies were extracted 

 through an incision made in the left flank ; a live one from 

 each cornu, and a dead one, with its head turned back, 

 from the body of the womb. The uterus and Fallopian 

 tubes were removed with the ecraseur,the arteries ligatured, 

 the abdominal wound sutured, and ice applied. In sixteen 

 days the bitch had quite recovered, and the pups were 

 reared artificially. The same operator saved four puppies 

 and the bitch in another case similarly treated. Adamf 



* 'Thierarztliche Mittheilungen der Munchenerschule,' H. Hi, pp. 296 and 

 298. 



t ' Briefliche Mittheilung.' 



