58 
EXTRACTS—DIFFICULT PARTURITION. 
hand and the posterior ones in the other, and pushing them back 
with considerable force, while my assistants endeavoured to pull 
the other forward, and the cow fortunately helping us at the 
moment with a more than usually violent effort, our object was 
accomplished. When the chest of the one that was drawn for¬ 
ward reached the brim of the pelvis, I was compelled to quit my 
hold of the other, and withdraw my hand ; but I had forced the 
other sufficiently back, and there was room for the first to be 
expelled. 
The four legs of the other immediately presented themselves 
again. I adopted the same measures as in a former case. I fixed 
two cords around the hind legs, and gave them to my assistants. 
I seized the fore legs above the knee, and bent them, and pushed 
them backward, while my assistants pulled at the hind legs : 
the croup presented itself, and the labour was presently accom¬ 
plished. The first calf was the smallest, and died on the same 
day : the second was reared. The mother was kept in the stable 
a few days, and then dismissed. 
Case VII .—April 1st, 1825. A black mare, seven years old, 
was turned into a field, and, it would seem, presently afterwards 
fell in labour. The servant did not return to her for some hours, 
and then he found her in so pitiable a state, that before he ad¬ 
vertised his master of wliat had happened, he ran for my father, 
whom I accompanied to the mare. We found her lying down 
covered with sweat, and making incessant vain efforts to expel 
the foetus. Her struggles had been so violent, that she had laid 
a place bare with her head and her feet nearly two yards in di¬ 
ameter. The upper eyelids were excoriated, and so much swelled 
that the eyes were nearly closed. The colt was dead, and appa¬ 
rently in a perfectly natural position : it had been expelled as far as 
the chest. 
A neighbour who had run to her assistance, had endeavoured 
to draw it entirely from her, but without success. We attempted 
the same thing, and also failed. I introduced my hand with 
much difficulty, and found the thighs of the colt fixed against 
the sides of the pelvis. The position was somewhat like that 
of a dog sitting, his thighs apart from each other, and the stifle 
joints projecting against the sides of the pelvis, rendering it im¬ 
possible that the labour should advance. 
As it was not possible to return the foetus, my father separated 
the portion which had protruded from that which still remained 
in the vagina and uterus. He then made, on each side, an in¬ 
cision along the cartilage of the sternum. The abdomen was 
presently emptied. He disarticulated the last dorsal and the first 
lumbar vertebrae; I facilitated these manipulations by holding 
