REPORTS OF CASES. 
117 
the mare had begun to strain and in about an hour the placenta 
came away. I made an examination per vagina and found os 
dilated and made an examination of uterus, which was pretty 
well contracted. On the floor of uterus and a little to the right 
I could detect what was evidently the cicatrix of a rupture. I now 
expressed the opinion that the mare was either suffering from a 
tumor or else the foetus had dropped down into the abdominal 
cavity. The abdomen was greatly distended, but nothing could 
be felt from vagina or rectum. Advised destruction of animal 
as on account of her age she was of no use. This the owner 
would not agree to, but promised to let me know how the case 
ended. 
On November 6th he came for me, stating that the mare 
was straining very hard and that he wished her destroyed. On 
reaching his farm I found the mare in violent pain and at first 
refused to move. Examination of uterus revealed it contracting' 
forcibly. I shot her and held a post-mortem. Upon cutting 
the skin along the median line of the abdomen the first thing 
noticed was a thick growth of hair protruding through the linea 
alba and abdominal floor. This proved to be the hair of the 
foetus, which lay in tile left hypogastric and hypochondriac re¬ 
gions. The head was imbedded in the stomach and one eye 
obliterated. The hair of the head had penetrated the stomach 
of the mare, as the hair of the back had the abdominal floor. 
There was a membrane encasing the foetus, to which was at¬ 
tached the umbilical vessels. 
The spine was bent on itself and where the shoulder 
and hip came together on the concave side there was union 
of the two. Where the limbs came together, that is, where 
one touched the other, there was also union. The foetus 
was very large, being apparently as large as it would have 
been had it been born at the proper time instead of remain¬ 
ing in the dam for seven months and some few days longer 
than was normal. 
All the abdominal organs were crowded out of place and the 
small intestines were literally wound round and round the limbs 
of the foetus. 
The mare had kept in good condition and done light work, 
exhibiting no signs of pain or inconvenience until the day be¬ 
fore she was destroyed, when the placenta came away. The ci¬ 
catrix on the uterus proved to be from a longitudinal rupture 
five and a half inches long from which I decided that the foetus 
must have dropped down while quite small. 
