CANINE OBSTETRICY. 
81 
often vexed with the result ; and it has been only lately that I have 
acquired any mastery in the treatment. The teaching which a 
man receives from repeated disappointment has at length sug- 
gested an instrument which appears to be equal to its object. It 
has so many recommendations that I am induced, without further 
delay, to submit it to the consideration of the profession, who will 
find it to be cheap as regards price, simple in construction, easy 
of application, and, above all, safe in its employment. The power 
which it will give the operator seems to be all but unlimited, and 
with it cases that heretofore were beyond the reach of skill become 
reduced to our controul. 
Let me now briefly narrate the circumstances out of which the 
adoption of this instrument arose. An Italian greyhound bitch, of 
very high breed, narrow make, and diminutive size, being loose 
and at heat, had received the attentions of a large Russian poodle 
dog. The animals in every point presented as great a contrast as 
any two creatures of the same specie could exhibit. The unfor- 
tunate circumstance had been discovered by the owner, who, vexed 
and alarmed, sought my opinion as to the probable consequence. 
There was but one opinion to be given. I proposed to produce 
abortion, or, at all events, premature labour : at the same time 
stating that the delicate nature of the bitch rendered either resort 
somewhat dangerous, but not so much so as to be put in the 
balance against the certain peril of allowing her to gestate for the 
full period. My advice was declined. The owner clung to the 
hope that the interruption of the intercourse, and the disparity 
between the two animals, would prevent impregnation, and re- 
solved to put -his bitch immediately to a greyhound dog of her own 
kind. I expostulated, and endeavoured to render him alive to the 
hazard which he was thereby incurring. He left me, and I heard 
no more from the gentleman for ten weeks, at the expiration of 
which his servant came to me in haste, saying the bitch was in 
great agony, and I was to attend without delay. 
As I entered the house the cry of the animal saluted my ears : 
I was prepared by it for much that I found. The bitch was run- 
ning about, now stopping to howl, then turning herself round to 
lick the seat of agony. The throes were strong and quick — the 
pulse not much excited — and the bitch seemed to be still vigorous; 
but she was very thin, and the abdomen disproportionately ex- 
tended. On examining her, the parts looked at first only greatly 
swollen, but on the labia being separated a black body was dis- 
covered, which proved to be the muzzle of a dead pup, that had 
none of the greyhound in its features. The head, nearly born, was 
firmly impacted: how long it had been so could not be ascertained; 
but the vulva was quite cold, the passage dry, and the poor beast 
