V ETERIN ARY 0 BST ET R I C Y . 
673 
Dr. Ramsbotham, in his work on the Principles and Practice of 
Obstetric Medicine and Surgery, observes, on the separation of 
the joints during labour, “ It was for many centuries the preva- 
lent opinion, that the bones of the pelvis always separated, or were 
disposed to separate, if occasion required it, during parturition, 
especially at the symphysis pubis, and thus allowed the pelvic di- 
mensions to be increased in every direction. This idea was ren- 
dered more probable by analogy ; for it is said that in some ani- 
mals, as in the cow, the bones are absolutely disunited to some 
extent, and that the sinking of the sacrum, occasioned by its whole 
weight, and by the softened condition of the ligaments, together 
with a difficulty in progressive motion, is an indication of the near 
approach of parturition. Such a separation may, possibly, take 
place in the lower animals; but it is certainly not usually the case 
in the human subject; but, where it does take place, it must be 
considered as morbid.” 
For my own part, I believe that but little separation ever takes 
place in the cow at the symphysis pubis ; but I am inclined to 
think that there is some softening and relaxation of the fibro-car- 
tilaginous substance forming the sacro-iliac synchrondrosis, espe- 
cially in young subjects, whereby a slight depression of the spine 
takes place. But the greatest relaxation is observed in the sacro- 
ischiatic ligaments, partly from the sinking of the sacrum, but 
chiefly and naturally so at this period, similarly to what takes place 
in the os uteri. This being an interesting point, I intend, in future, 
to pay more attention to it. 
Now, after what I have stated, it will clearly be seen how im- 
prudent it would be, in a general way, to attempt to use great and 
unnatural force in the extraction of a foetus where the genital or- 
gans are not prepared, and where this ligament in particular is not 
sufficiently relaxed. It must have happened to many practitioners 
to have been called in to attend on cases of labour when there has 
been violent straining, and when, also, the amniotic sac has been 
ruptured and the feet presented, and yet they have not been able 
to deliver the cow in consequence of the above defect ; or, if they 
have done so, the death of the parent has taken place. In most of 
these cases the foetuses have been dead, and had not either come 
to their full time of utero-gestation or else had passed it. 
I am aware that sometimes, when the foetus is dead, either before 
the full period of utero-gestation or after it, symptoms of partu- 
rition will come on, and this relaxation take place, and the foetus 
may be extracted; but it sometimes happens, from the symptoms 
being not at all violent, and the feet not appearing, that the 
patient is not examined or meddled with, consequently the vagina 
and the sacro-ischiatic ligaments, and even the os uteri itself, 
