RUPTURE OF THE VAGINA. 
4(51 
work, when I lost sight of her. The interesting point I did not 
determine was, as to whether the fistula became permanent. 
RUPTURE OF THE VAGINA, 
Except during parturition, traumatic lesions of the vagina 
seem to be exceedingly rare, owing, no doubt, to the protection 
which this organ receives from the pelvic walls. I have had the 
fortune to see in my practice, two cases of rupture of the va¬ 
gina, occurring during copulation. Both subjects were medium¬ 
sized farm-mares, weighing about 1050 pounds, seven or eight 
years old and in good condition ; one was a primipara and the 
other had raised one foal. The same stallion, a very nervous, ex¬ 
citable and vigorous animal, weighing 1300 pounds, had covered 
both mares in the early part of the season, while he was yet very 
amorous and somewhat violent in his actions. 
The one to which I was first called had the following history : 
Had given birth to a foal about two years before without injury 
to the genital passages; six days before my visit she had been 
covered, and immediately afterward strained and passed a little 
blood mixed with the vaginal secretions. At occasional periods 
for the next few hours, small quantities of blood were passed and 
micturition was quite frequent; from the second day to the time 
of my visit the discharges were muco-purulent and of but moder¬ 
ate quantity, the animal being very uneasy, off her feed, with oc¬ 
casional coliky pains and constipation complete. 
When I first saw her, she showed symptoms of impaction, 
with now and then a little straining, accompanied with the passage 
of a small quantity of secretion from the vulva. Emptying the 
rectum of a large quantity of hardened dry fmces, a vaginal 
examination was made, revealing on the superior wall of this or¬ 
gan, near the cul-de-sac of Douglas, a granulating wound about 
two inches in diameter. A finger was readily passed into the 
wound, and complete adhesions found between the walls of the 
vagina and the connective tissue of the neighboring parts, so that 
