PROLAPSE OF THE UTERUS. 
431 
to the actual accident. Reduction could not be effected owing to struggling, 
so the parts were bathed three times a day with disinfectant or astringent 
solutions, and on the third day they returned spontaneously. A fortnight 
later the prolapse again occurred. The former treatment failing, the vaginal 
wall was scarified. Improvement was slow, and the mare was turned out 
during the day. Three weeks later the wound shown was healed and the 
vagina could be replaced. West’s prolapse clamps were applied and left in 
position for a month. Recovery appeared complete. 
In sows, reposition is assisted by holding up the hind legs. The 
prolapsed parts are cleansed, and an attempt made, during an interval 
when the animal neither strains nor cries, to thrust back the swelling. 
The vulva can be closed with a couple of sutures. 
If the prolapsed vagina be greatly swollen, bathing with 2 to B per 
cent, solution of alum will assist reposition. 
Bitches often suffer from partial prolapse of the upper wall of the 
vagina, which is very frequently mistaken for a tumour. A ligature can 
be applied to the base and the prolapsed part removed. 
III.—PROLAPSE (INVERSION) OF THE UTERUS. 
PROLAPSUS (INYERSIO) UTERI. 
This disease, frequently seen in cows and swine, but very seldom in 
other animals, really consists in inversion of the uterus, the surface of 
the prolapsed organ appearing covered with mucous membrane. The 
condition, therefore, is somewhat like inversion of the bladder, but can 
only occur when the cervix uteri is relaxed, and in consequence its 
occurrence is almost exclusively confined to the period of parturition. 
Partial displacement of the uterus is certainly imaginable, even with a 
closed cervix, if the extremity of one or other horn should become 
intussuscepted (like the finger of a glove). Though the process cannot 
be detected in the living animal, it probably represents the first step 
towards so-called prolapse, the straining it occasions finally causing 
displacement of the entire organ. 
Such invagination may remain after prolapse if the uterus and its 
cornua are not completely returned. In mares, the anterior portion of the 
displaced uterus is sometimes strangulated in the cervix uteri, generally 
producing a fatal issue. A similar accident has been seen in cows. 
In any case, prolapse of the uterus presupposes elongation of the 
uterine ligaments, and therefore the factors predisposing to prolapse 
of the vagina predispose to this disease. They consist in too high 
a position of the fore limbs, repeated pregnancy, &c.; the immediate 
causes are generally non-occurrence of post-partum uterine contrac¬ 
tion, severe straining and excessive labour pains. Retention of the 
after-birth is one of the chief, partly because the cervix then remains 
