3(54 
ON INVERSION OF THE UTERUS. 
quently falls down while you are endeavouring to do so. In such 
a case, it is my plan to attach a rope to each hind leg, and partly 
suspend her, thereby lessening her power of straining against you, 
and rendering the return of the uterus much easier than it other- 
wise would be ; and unless the animal is (what is very frequently 
termed amongst farmers) a roomy one, I think the uterus would 
generally be returned more quickly that way than while standing, 
and no harm arise from the temporary suspension. Occasionally, 
the weight of the uterus is very great, independent of the exer- 
tion which the animal uses against us. 
4th. — Respecting the retention of the uterus in its natural 
position afterwards, I cannot see much difficulty about that. I 
never insert sutures, but make use of an instrument made of stout 
wire, like the one here described, which answers the purpose ex- 
firm hold of each of the labia. The horizontal wires (4) should 
be a little curved, the convex part, of course, towards the body. 
For a very large cow the instrument might, perhaps, be the better 
for being a trifle wider. 
Such is the instrument I have invariably used for this purpose 
for several years, and have never found it fail to answer. After 
this is done, and for some little time, while the cow is in the 
house, my advice is, to make the part where she lies as much 
higher behind than it is before as you well can, so as to relieve 
the parts from pressure, and consequently prevent, in a measure, 
irritation and straining. 
5th. — I, no doubt, shall be thought very fortunate when I state 
that I have never had a case of the sort prove fatal, and, if it is 
taken in time, I know not why it should do so; neither have I 
ever seen or heard of a chronic case of inversion, Unfortunately, 
of late I have had other subjects far different engaging my atten- 
tion, and it was not until last night that I noticed Mr. Barker’s 
CO 
l£ inches. 
tremely well. This I insert as near to 
the centre of the vagina as I can, with 
a curved three-edged needle, larger 
than the circumference of the rings 
marked 1, through which I draw the 
string attached to the needle. After 
having brought them all through, I pass 
the pin (marked 2) through the rings, 
the lower one of which forms a nut 
to admit the lower end of the pin 
(marked 3), which forms a correspond- 
ing screw. This done, I have no fear 
of the uterus being inverted again. 
It of course requires to take a good 
