568 TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
Journal des Veterinaires du Midi , May, I860. 
TORSION OF THE VAGINA AND THE NECK OF THE UTERUS. 
By M. Mottel, Veterinary Surgeon. 
Two opinions have been advanced as to the best means of 
restoring; these parts, when in this state, to their normal 
condition ; one bv M. Weber, who gives the preference to 
turning of the cow, more or less multiplied, in the direction 
of the torsion, while the practitioner fixes the organ by the 
introduction of his arm. The other opinion is that of M. 
Goubaux, who prefers the rotation of the body in a contrary 
direction, and who has come to this conclusion from some 
very ingenious experiments made on the dead bodies of 
animals. 
The author of the paper does not intend to enter upon 
the consideration of the respective merits of these opinions, 
but simply to contribute two cases which have come under 
his observation, since it is of great importance that the 
practitioner should be decided in what manner to operate 
w ? hen called upon. 
In the first case, the twist was so complete that it was im¬ 
possible to introduce the finger. The cow was secured by 
her legs being tied, and laid on her left side, when three 
turns in the direction of the twist (that is, from right to left) 
sufficed to restore the parts to their natural position, and 
that without fixing the organ by the introduction of the 
hand, as recommended by M. Weber. This precaution 
seems to be useless. Parturition was only effected the next 
day, the cow making no efforts after the operation, and she 
died soon afterwards. 
The second case was a young cow, with her first calf. She 
had been straining for the previous thirty hours, but without 
any result. On examination, torsion of the vagina and of 
the neck of the uterus was found to exist, from left to right. 
The twist was so complete that the os uteri could not be felt. 
In this case the author decided on trying the process recom¬ 
mended by M. Goubaux, that is, turning in the contrary 
direction of the torsion. After having secured the cow and 
laid her on the left side, six rotations were made from right to 
left, without any effect. Annoyed at this, the author directed 
the rotations to be reversed, giving only two and a half, which 
restored the parts to their normal state; and this too was done 
without fixing the organs by the introduction of the arm. 
