384 LACERATION OF THE VAGINA DURING PARTURITION. 
live foal with the fore legs in the vaginal passage, the head 
doubled to the right side, which, after some manipulation, 
and partly returning the legs within the uterus, I succeeded 
in raising up, by getting fast hold of the jaw with my right 
hand, when 1 found that it was scarcely possible, from the 
scarcity of room, to get it forward. During my examination, 
I several times brought my hand in contact with something, 
the character of which I could not determine, from its being 
covered, with the membranes, a part of which l almost fancied 
it must be. The mare, too, seemed to be very much exhausted 
for the comparatively short time my manipulation was carried 
on, and she threw herself violently down once or twice, and 
then had some difficulty in rising. Cords w r ere now fastened 
to the fore limbs of the foal, and two persons, with myself, 
applied our united strength during the prevalence of the 
throes, pulling steadily in a downward direction, the animal 
being at the time standing, when she suddenly threw herself 
down on her left side and violently strained, forcing out from 
the vagina what on examination proved to be a portion of the 
single colon, covered by part of the chorion. I have no 
doubt it was this that I had felt; but its being so enveloped 
in the membranes sufficiently accounted for my not recog- 
nising the true character of the case before. As a matter of 
course, I at once explained the fact to the owner, stating it 
to be a hopeless case so far as the mare was concerned, and 
to remove the foal per vaginam would be to sacrifice its life, 
which I had been contemplating, as I felt confident that one, 
if not both the fore legs, would have to be removed. Taking 
the matter into consideration, and not having chloroform on 
the spot, I recommended the mare to be shot, and to take 
the foal from out the uterus by an opening in the abdomen. 
This proposition was at once acceded to. The fatal bullet 
having done its work, I made a longitudinal incision along 
the linea alba, and having exposed the uterus, opened it 
anteriorly, and extracted a fine healthy mare foal, which is 
doing well up to the present time. It was at first fed wholly 
on cows 5 milk, but now lives principally on oatmeal and 
linseed gruel. 
A post-mortem examination of the mother developed a rupture 
of the walls of the uterus, about five inches in length, 
situated at the superior part, and inclined to the left side, 
just anterior to the os uteri, in a direction with the short 
diameter of the organ, or rather more in an oblique direction, 
and part of the single colon and rectum protruded through 
to a considerable extent. The meso-colon and meso-rectum 
were also ruptured about six inches in length. Whether 
