50 
EXTRACTS—DIFFICULT PARTURITION. 
the position of it, which assumed that of a horse that lowers his 
head and bends his neck to avoid the action of the bit (ww cheval 
qui s^encapuchonne). We were then enabled to fasten a small 
rope round the lower jaw ; but it was soon detached, and brought 
away with it the extremity of one of the branches of the jaw. 
I then fixed one of my crochets in the orbit of the eye ; but we 
made no progress. 
The vulva was now much swollen, and of a deep red colour; 
the passage was considerably diminished, and our patient ex¬ 
hausted. We determined on embryotomy. 
I detached the skin from above the knee to the inner face of 
the sternum, and thence to the shoulder. I cut out a considerable 
portion of the sterno-humeral and sterno-sub-scapular muscles 
(the pectoralis transversus and pectoralis parvus), and then drew 
out the limbs, thus prepared, and easily detached them from the 
thorax. 
The crochet remained implanted in the orbit, and was now 
very useful to me. I fixed another under the cervical ligament, 
and after many efforts the head presented itself. We then placed 
a cord round the neck; but we were obliged to exert very con¬ 
siderable force ere we could bring out the chest, and, after¬ 
wards, the croup. The calf was large with relation to the pelvis 
of the mother. The head was well formed, but its position had 
been unnatural. 
The mother now claimed all our care, and proper measures 
were pursued. On the following day she found her way into 
the stable in search of food, and yielded on the same day nearly 
a gallon of milk. The lips of the vulva were very much swelled, 
and so they continued on the morrow, although they had been 
diligently fomented. She then appeared to be doing well, and 
it was agreed that she should soon have a little hay ; but on 
the third day she was dull and feverish ; her teats were become 
flaccid, and yielded no more milk—the vulva was still more 
swelled, and exhaled a putrid smell, and on the following day 
she died. 
We examined her after death, and found the uterus very much 
inflamed; its parietes were more than an inch in thickness; 
and the submucous cellular substance was infiltrated by a yellow 
serosity. There were several large gangrenous patches in the 
vao;ina. 
Case V .—May Is^, 1831. M. Acelot, of Pontbellenger, 
sent for me to a mare that had been four hours in labour. ^ She 
was ten years old, small, very fat, and had previously produced 
several good colts. She was very much exhausted, and covered 
with perspiration; yet her pains continued without intermission. 
