se instruments to deliver bitches with,
would seem to have been ignorant of this necessity; and I here mention it
to prove how perfectly inadequate such things are for the purpose
intended.

[Illustration: THE GRAVID UTERUS.]

Before any instrument is employed, the pup should be within the vagina.
This is a rule that can hardly be with impunity violated by the generality
of practitioners. Simple and brief as may be the direction, it is one that
only on rare occasions may be safely disregarded; and of the exceptional
case, mention will be made hereafter. The pup must be within the passage;
and not only there, but so there, as to seem impacted, before assistance
by means of instruments is necessary. The largest foetus can, in almost
every case, proceed thus far; and where it is of too great a size to come
so low, any interference would be desperate; for then it must be of such a
magnitude as to destroy the probability of delivery being accomplished.

When the pup has not entered the pelvis, the practitioner may be assured
the obstacle is not created by the disproportioned size of the young. The
labor either has not proceeded far enough, and time is required for its
completion; or the uterus is feeble, and stimulants are wanted to
invigorate it. The largest foetus can be moved by the womb; so the size
must be an impediment only to its passage through the vagina. There is
therefore no mechanical hindrance before that part has been reached, and
no mechanical assistance at an earlier period is imperative.

When the veterinarian is called to a labor that has already commenced, and
perhaps been some time about, he directs his first attention to the
orifice. If the perineum looks unnaturally distended, so large as to be
remarkable, the presence of a pup in the vagina may be concluded; and here
he must know how to act with decision.

If the throes are on, and strong, though evidence of pain be heard, we
must not be too quick to interfere. If there be anything like a bladder
protruding from the vulva, nothing whatever must be done. In easy births
the pups invariably come into the world enveloped in their membranes, and
thereby their egress seems to be greatly accelerated. If these burst, or
are broken, the delivery is thereby rendered more difficult. The membranes
consequently, if protruding, should not be touched. Some persons, I know,
seize them under an idea, that by pulling at these, or at the cord, the
foetus can be broug