439 
ON PARTURITION. 
By W. Cox, Sen., M.R.C.V.S., Ashbourne. 
As veterinary obstetrics have of late occupied your pages, 
the following illustrative cases may not be deemed out of 
place. 
Case 1.—On the 16th of May, 1859* I was requested to 
-attend a mare that could not foal. She was the property of Mr. 
Mellor, Hope-dale, near Alstonefield, seven miles from this 
place. On my arrival, I found that the two fore legs of the 
foetus were presented up to the knees, and that the head was 
turned back. Several noted persons had been endeavouring 
to bring the foal away, but they could not; not one of them 
being able to reach any further than the foaks ears. I 
pushed the foetus back as far as I was able to do, and then I 
could only touch its eyes. Consequently, I at once pro¬ 
ceeded to perform embryotomy, which was done in the fol¬ 
lowing manner—I generally use a curved, sharp-pointed bis¬ 
toury, made for the purpose, but on this occasion I employed 
an embryotomy thimble, which I purchased of Mr. Arnold, 
of West Smithfield, London, and which answers very well— 
The foetus was first pushed back, and the limb to be operated 
upon was next drawn forward a little. I then passed 
the instrument as far as half-way up the scapula, where I 
commenced my incision in the front, carrying it onwards 
to the point of the shoulder, down the course of the 
humerus, and over the elbow-joint, along the arm, over the 
knee-joint, and down to the inner side of the fetlock. I 
then, with the scalpel, skinned the limb to a little above the 
knee-joint, which was pulled out for the purpose, leaving it 
attached at the fetlock; the remainder was separated with 
the hand over the whole of the limb. A cord, having a run¬ 
ning noose, was next fixed above the elbow, and another 
above the knee-joint ; the skin at the fetlock was then 
divided, and a cord attached to it. This being done, three 
men easily pulled off the fore extremity. The other limb 
was operated upon in the same way, by my then pupil, Mr. 
J. Coe, M.R.C.VS. We had taken the precaution to fasten a 
cord to the skin of each extremity. Mr. Coe then pushed back 
the foetus by pressing against its sternum, and by putting 
my arm alongside his I was enabled to lay hold of its jaw, 
and bring forward the head, which I found was a crooked, or 
malformed one, but delivery was now soon effected. 
