490 
VETERINARY OBSTETRICY. 
death of the animal. After the separation has taken place, the 
remaining portion will contract within the vagina, and the cavity 
be closed up by the vulva. The urine, generally, will ever after- 
wards continue to dribble awav from the ureters, and run dowm the 
thighs, excoriating them; though, in other cases, the fluid will 
accumulate within the vulva, and be from time to time ejected in 
large quantities. 
To obviate this unpleasant result, and which I have also seen 
from a rupture of the vesical sphincter from foaling, M. Canu sen., 
invented a little projecting spout of tin, made with a brass wire 
attached to it, by means of which it might be fastened to the vulva. 
He fitted it on the following morning below the inferior commis- 
sure of the lips of the vulva, the two extremities of the wire ex- 
tending on either side of the opening into the vulva, and being 
retained by two cross pieces, by which it was fastened to the crup- 
per : her tail being shortened to prevent her disarranging this sim- 
ple machinery. By this means the urine was thrown beyond the 
hocks, a few emollient lotions healing the excoriations that had 
been made. The mare was put to work six weeks after the acci- 
dent, and in three or four weeks after this she was sold at a fair. 
I will now give an abstract of what has been recorded, which I 
think will be the means of drawing the attention of veterinary 
accoucheurs, for the future, more to the subject. 
The first case I find recorded is by M. Canu, sen., and is as fol- 
lows (see Veterinarian, vol. ix, p. 36.): — 
I was requested to see a mare labouring under difficult parturi- 
tion. About half an hour before I arrived the people had assisted 
her, and the foal had been born. It came in its natural position, 
and the birth was effected without much difficulty. She was 
covered with sweat, and evidently in great pain, her throes being 
continual and violent. A portion of some membranous substance 
which hung from the vulva made me suspect an inversion of the 
uterus or of the vagina. The proprietor said that he had been long 
attempting to return this protruded substance, but was unable. I 
examined it with care, but could not satisfy myself to what organ 
it belonged. At length I caused the mare to be raised, which was 
not effected without considerable difficulty, for she was very weak. 
She made repeated efforts to void her urine, and, from time to 
time, it spirted out to a considerable distance. I did not even then 
suspect inversion of the bladder; for I had not seen a case of it, 
nor heard it spoken of in veterinary medicine. It was red, thick- 
ened, and bloody. I thought, indeed, of inversion of the bladder, 
but I could not bring myself to believe that it existed in this case. 
At length, following the inferior surface of the vagina, I could not 
find the meatus urinarius, and the membranous substance com- 
