LENGTHENED PERIODS OF UTERO-GESTATION. 453 
had three horses die from abscesses formed between the rectum 
and the vertebrae, 1 examined her, and gave her a clyster of warm 
water, &c. but could not find any thing so far as I could pass 
jny hand : but when my hand was in the rectum the mare strove 
more than usual in order to expel it. 1 gave her a mild dose of 
physic. The ball operated two days and nights without griping, 
and the mare appeared quite recovered for the space of five or 
six days. 
On the sixth day, however, she became as before, and began 
to roll, and look back on her flanks. On the seventh day the 
symptoms were the same, with a continual striving as if to re- 
move some foreign substance, which continued at intervals until 
the tenth day, when she died. 
On my examining her, I found about four gallons of pus in 
the abdomen, and all the small intestines adhered to the parietes 
of a large abscess that had formed between them and the me- 
sentery : it was one complete mass of disease from the stomach 
to the caecum. 
UNUSUALLY LENGTHENED PERIODS OF UTERO- 
GESTATION. 
By Mr. 
In the number of The Veterinarian for March I find a case 
of unusual long period of utero-gestation in a mare. I was sent 
for May 2, 1832, by the owner, to see a heifer, three years old, 
that was unwell. It was supposed to be long after her time 
for calving. On examining the womb, I found the os uteri so 
closed, that it was almost impossible to introduce my hand, but 
I could distinctly feel the calf. It seemed to be of so enormous 
a size, that I had no hope of extracting it. On examining her 
by the rectum, my opinion was confirmed, that it would be im- 
possible, as the calf was decidedly larger than the passage would 
admit. I then gave the owner my opinion respecting the case, 
and advised him to have her immediately dispatched, which he 
was unwilling to do, until giving her a farther trial by waiting 
until the next day. She was then driven five miles to the 
slaughterhouse, and the owner on seeing her opened was con- 
vinced of the impossibility of her surviving long. 
I recollect seeing a cow that was expected to calve in the 
spring ; but as she did not, she was put to fatten during the first 
summer months, on grass, when she was taken poorly and 
killed; and a calf, dead and decomposed, was found in her. This 
cow must have gone fourteen or fifteen months. 
vol. ix. 3 o 
