86 



On Abortion in Cows. 



having the cow securely held, washes out the vagina with warm 

 water ; he then introduces his hand well oiled, to feel if the os 

 uteri is sufficiently open to allow it to pass into the uterus ; if so, 

 there is not the slightest danger in attempting to take the cleansing 

 away. Should any part of the membranes be hanging from the 

 vulva, they must be taken hold of by the other hand, twisted 

 several times round (so as to render them less liable to break), 

 and pulled at gently. By thus stretching them the operator is 

 better enabled to feel with his hand in the uterus where the 

 attachments between it and the cleansing are situated. He gra- 

 dually passes his hand round the interior of the uterus and 

 loosens the points of connection, commencing at the entrance and 

 proceeding to the horns of the womb, to one of which the cleansing 

 is mainly attached. He may require to exercise some degree of 

 pulling or separating force with the hand thus employed, and 

 should be careful not to tear the cleansing more than he can 

 possibly avoid ; it is always better to remove it at once (if pos- 

 sible) than piecemeal. When the hand can be passed into the 

 uterus, and if decay of the cleansing be not too far advanced, there 

 are very few cases in which we cannot remove it by exercising 

 due precaution. After extraction has been accomplished, the 

 uterus should be gently but well syringed with tepid water, 

 among which a small quantity of chloride of lime may be dis- 

 solved. A competent operator incurs no risk of injuring the 

 uterus, for all the necessary force of manipulation is applied to 

 the attached points of the cleansing. 



Some persons who have objections to the above mode of pro- 

 ceeding, in consequence of the extremely offensive stench, the 

 disgusting nature of the discharge, or from an erroneous idea of 

 injurious consequences which they suppose likely to ensue, attach 

 weights to the cleansing, in order, as they imagine, to drag it 

 away. The force thus applied mostly causes the membranes to 

 break inside the vagina, and not being determined to the real 

 points of attachment, is seldom of much benefit ; moderate pulling 

 force occasionally applied by the hand in a horizontal direction is 

 much preferable, although but rarely effective in bringing the 

 cleansing away. If the prejudice of the owner be such as not to 

 allow of any mechanical interference for its removal, and if he be 

 not incorrigibly careless and ignorant, he may wash the cleansing 

 repeatedly with a solution of chloride of lime, and inject a diluted 

 form of the same into the vagina ; this, with a plentiful supply of 

 clean litter, will in some measure overcome the effluvia always 

 present in these cases. Some farmers smear the walls and wood- 

 work of their cowhouses with tar and melted pitch, to counteract, 

 or, as they think, to prevent the smell alluded to ; there is no 

 harm in adopting such a practice, but there is little amount of 



