66 
EDW. A. CAHILL. 
will not even mention most of the causes, such as malformations, 
diseases of the genitalia of both sexes, etc. I will consider only 
two conditions, occlusion of the os uteri and cystic ovaries. It is 
upon these two subjects that most of us are losing many oppor¬ 
tunities. 
Occlusion of the Os Uteri .—All of us who practice in a breed¬ 
ing district will recognize this as embracing a very large percent¬ 
age of the cases which have been previously diagnosed by our 
client. Many of us, in a careless examination, give the same diag¬ 
nosis; but do we realize that this condition practically never ex¬ 
ists? A short resume of our anatomy will remind us that in the 
cow (which comprises most of our subjects showing this con¬ 
dition)-the mucous membranes of the os uteri are in longitudinal 
folds, as in other animals; in addition to these, there are three 
transverse folds of mucous membrane, which render the cervical 
canal firm and exceedingly small. The os, in addition to this, is 
long and tortuous, very firm and almost cartilaginous in charac¬ 
ter. During oestrum and coition the os becomes physiologically 
dilated; at all other times it is so firmly constricted that it is ex¬ 
tremely difficult or even impossible to pass one’s little finger 
through it. In normal condition one ought to be able to pass the 
finest metallic probe through the os; oftentimes even this is im¬ 
possible, and still the semen is able to gain an entrance. In spite 
of this, most breeders try to get a finger or even the whole hand 
through the os, or even into the uterus itself, and, failing in this, 
the case is pronounced “ closure of the womb,” and they proceed 
to operate for a condition which in all probability does not exist. 
This is done in a variety of ways, varying from the bougie to the 
scalpel. Usually this does far more harm than good. It is sel¬ 
dom required; it frequently is the mode of infection and conse¬ 
quent complete obliteration of the os uteri. If not successful, the 
animal is pronounced unfit for future breeding, and, as far as 
breeding is concerned, is discarded. 
If we would conduct our examination a little farther, we 
would find that the failure to breed is in most cases not due to 
any defect of the uterus at all, but to a cystic condition of the 
