610 
REPORTS OF CASES. 
cedure. Animal was cast as before. Instead of passing arm 
into vagina, it was passed into rectum well np under the gravid 
uterus. (In this way a pretty good grasp can be had on a limb 
of foetus, even through the folds of intestine and uterus.; 
The mare lay on her left side on a sloping piece of ground. 
When all was ready instructions were given to quickly turn 
mare over on back to right side ; at the same time I lifted the 
womb, and, much to my surprise, nearly righted the organ at the 
first turn. The foal was quickly delivered alive and both mare 
and colt did well. Now, whether or not it is better to direct 
our efforts from rectum in such cases I can’t say, but am in¬ 
clined to think it is. In this case, especially when mare’s 
rump was turned down hill, the arm could be gotten entirely 
under the bulky and heavy uterus, and in this way one can 
certainly come nearer keeping the organ stationary while the 
mother is being turned than could be possible from vagina. In 
fact, I believe fully as much good can be accomplished by 
simply turning the mare as can be done by vaginal manipula¬ 
tions. Again, I am satisfied that the sooner we get to work at 
these cases the better will be our success. The fact of a living 
foal being in the womb may have made some difference. I 
think it did. I am not convinced that torsion of the uterus, to 
any considerable degree, can exist very long without pathologi¬ 
cal alterations and death to foetus. Strangulation of vessels 
with consequent extravasations tend to complicate matters. 
If called to a case of uterine torsion where the mare had 
suffered colic one, two, or three weeks previous I should hesi¬ 
tate very much to give it as my opinion that the twist occurred 
concurrently. Post-mortem conditions in No. i create grave 
doubts whether an animal would go very long after the gravid 
uterus turns over without manifesting it in some manner. No 
history of colic could be had in either case. They were both 
left twists, and as near as I could make out the uterus had 
turned half over. I am inclined to believe in both cases the 
torsion occurred the night previous to my visit. 
It would seem from recorded cases in “ Fleming’s Obstet¬ 
rics ” that cows are much more susceptible to uterine torsion 
than are mares, while our observation teaches us that horses 
are much more inclined to roll than cattle. 
While succeeding splendidly with my second case the mem¬ 
ory of my first still lingers, and I am not at all anxious for an¬ 
other. I hope some one who has a successful method of treat¬ 
ing such cases will u speak out.” 
