434 DIFFICULT PARTURITION IN COWS. 
bowels that lay against the uterus were much discoloured. There 
was no constipation. 
Observations . — It appears to me that the os uteri must have been 
so much contracted after the uterus was returned as not to allow 
of the serous matter escaping. The liquid, no doubt, was thrown 
out from the inner membrane ; and, probably, the distended and 
diseased condition of the uterus prevented it from contracting 
and forcing the liquid out. I am almost inclined to think that, had 
the liquid been discharged, the cow might have recovered ; and 
this may teach us a lesson to introduce a catheter into the uterus 
whenever it has sustained any injury like this. We may, if we 
suspect any accumulation taking place, introduce our hand up the 
rectum, to ascertain if such is the case ; and, if it is so, we may 
afterwards use the catheter. Throughout the whole period she was 
ill she did not shew any marked symptoms of pain, such as fre- 
quently getting up and lying down, shifting the legs about, or up 
and down ; nor was there any straining or increased respiration. I 
am inclined to think that the cow would have had a better chance 
had I passed ligatures through the neck of the uterus, and after- 
wards amputated it below them, as the neck was sound and not 
very large. I certainly shall not hesitate to do so in future 
whenever the uterus is much injured, rather than attempt to re- 
turn it. 
CASES OF DIFFICULT PARTURITION IN COWS. 
Cases of difficult parturition in the cow are not often to be 
found in your pages*, although I am sure many occur worthy of 
record among your numerous country practitioners. Methods of 
extraction are met with in some books, and directions given : many 
of them are mere theories, of so little use, that, when attempted to 
be put in practice by the young beginner, he finds them, to his 
great astonishment, to be perfectly impracticable. 
In most cases, the cause of difficult parturition is the unnatural 
position of the calf : that position is said to be produced by some 
accident to the mother, thereby turning it into the wrong position 
in the uterus. 
Any person having a moderate share of cattle-practice, and who 
has had a few cases of difficult parturition, will be convinced that 
it is no easy matter to turn a calf in the uterus, and that it can 
scarcely take place from any accident that may befal the mother. 
I am convinced that the calf remains in the position in which we 
find it in these difficult cases from the first formation. 
* Save and except what our excellent correspondent, Mr. Cartwright, 
sends. — Edit. 
