VETERINARY OBSTETRICS. 
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It so happened that I was called to assist him in another 
case which he had, but as I didn’t know what the 
case w r as, I had to return home for my instruments, 
but on coming back I found the calf was putrid. In 
that case I succeeded in removing the foetus, after much 
labour, and the smell was so bad that I was unwell for some 
days after it. I then emptied two bottles of soda water into 
the uterus, to clean it out, and in such cases I have found 
spirits and water to act beneficially, by causing spasmodic 
action of the uterus. In such cases you should remove the 
limbs, without taking the whole shoulder. I have been called 
to a cow, and I found that it was a putrid calf, in the month 
of July. You should remove the limb at the knee-joint, 
taking care that the skin is not detached. 
“Professor Gamgee —My remarks were not intended for 
Mr. Aitken, nor for any of the gentlemen who have written 
in the Veterinarian . My remarks were intended for persons 
who have put their names to that which they have not written 
themselves, and which had been penned for the purpose of 
damaging my reputation. I need scarcely say that I have no 
cause to heed such attacks, and my desire to-day is to draw 
attention to a most important subject, which, in the interest 
of science, should be fairly and satisfactorily discussed. 
“Mr, Aitken —What I have written has been done with my 
own pen, and is, I hope, not detrimental to you. In a mare, 
I have seen the rectum presented three feet, and as thick as 
a man's body. The great loss to a veterinary practitioner is 
that he is not called in time. 
“ Mr, Anderson —I once lost a mare, in which the uterus 
✓ 
was twisted. I lost it through ignorance, as I never had 
been taught this. But Mr. Cockburn and I discovered this 
on opening the mare. One of the ureters was thickened. 
If I had known that the uterus was twisted, I might have 
given it a quick turn, and have saved the mare. 
“Mr. Moir , addressing Mr. Aitken—In cattle I have seen 
the foetus with the head turned backwards ; but I think that 
some years ago you had a difficult case of parturition in a 
mare, at Auchinleck, the result of which I do not exactly 
remember. 
“Mr, Aitken —I have a distinct recollection of that case. I 
took three of the legs of the foetus away, and then got the 
other parts away, but the mare died about the seventh or 
eighth day. 
“Professor Gamgee —I am glad to learn that Mr. Aitken has 
met with a case in which he was unsuccessful, as it bears out 
the remarks of Mr. Cartwright and others. Mr. Anderson’s 
