47 
A CASE OF RETENTION OF THE FCETUS BEYOND 
THE NATURAL TIME. 
By Mr. Henry R. Stevens, Newmarket. 
Having met with a case of abortion in a cow, proceeding from a 
cause and in a manner not noticed in your work on Cattle, or any 
other work with which I am acquainted, I do myself the pleasure of 
communicating an account of it to you, hoping the perusal may 
elicit some remarks from you that may throw light on the subject. 
I was sent for on the 6th of December, 1840, to see a cow that 
had slipped a very fine calf on the previous evening. She had 
gone rather over her time, was an old and very large carcassed cow, 
and had never been known to abort before. The history I heard of 
the case was as follows : — She was found down, and the throes 
coming on rapidly and violently, and a large body presented itself, 
which was supposed by the owner to be the bed coming down. He 
was considerably alarmed, and as I live some miles from him, and 
he considered she wanted instant help, he sent to his shepherd, who 
came immediately. He immediately relieved the fears of the 
owner, by informing him that it was the cleansings coming first; 
and he added, that he feared the calf was dead, which, in the 
sequel, proved correct. After he had removed the membranes, the 
nose and one of the feet presented themselves, to which they at- 
tached lines, and attempted to draw out the calf by force ; but the 
other fore leg being still in the abdomen, when they pulled, the knee 
pressed against the pelvis, and prevented them from accomplishing 
their object. However, getting the cow’s feet against the door-post 
of the box she was in, they, by the main strength of five men, at 
length extracted a fine dead calf. 
My idea as to the cause of this accident is, that the cow had 
gone over her time, and the foetus being large, nature threw off the 
membranes from the uterus in due course, in the same way that she 
would have done had the calf been removed ; but which remained 
in the uterus from the inactivity in that organ in consequence of 
age or debility. She had about a month since an attack of the 
prevailing epizootic, and from which she recovered after two or 
three doses of sulph. sodse. 
I should have stated that I gave the cow a dose of physic, and 
that she is doing well. 
I am informed sheep are often subject to this accident. 
