36 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



no danger in performing tlic operation, if skillfullj done, and the animal 

 put under the influence of sulphuric ether. 



Dr. Eiggs, a veterinary surgeon, does not approve of giving chloroform to 

 cows. lie says: "It is no easy task to give ether or chloroform to animals 

 generally, and it is usually quite as distressing to them as so slightly painful 

 an operation as sj>aying. The operation of casting is a very awkward one, 

 and needless, and interferes with the ease, if not tlie certainty, of the opera- 

 tion. The ovaries are attached near the back-hone ; hence, when a cow- 

 stands up, the paunch and intestines fall away from them, and leave clear 

 working si)ace ; but when she is thrown upon her side, the case is different, 

 and when the cow is in good flesh, there is none too much space any way." 



Dr. Kiggs allows the cow to stand up, her head tied short, and an assistant 

 holds her by the nose with clasps; a rope is tied loosely about her hind legs, 

 to keep her from kicking ; an assistant pushes her up against a partition or 

 wall, and another aids in the first part of the operation. Thus, the cow is 

 not at all alarmed or uncomfortable. 



Tlie skin is folded so that the hair can be sliaved off where the cut is to 

 be, and thus a straight line, three quarters of an inch wide and five inches 

 long, is laid bare. Tlie skin is then drawn up in a fold, at right angles, to 

 this line and in the middle of it. The operator grasps this fold on one side 

 of the shaved line, in his left hand, and his assistant grasps it on the other 

 side ; then, with a single, well-directed stroke, with a sharj) knife, he severs 

 the two thicknesses of hide exactly in the sliaved line, letting go at the 

 same time ; a straight, clean cut through the skin is seen, and the cow suffers 

 almost no pain at all — not so much as that produced by the blow from a 

 whip. • If the cut is made slowly, it is the most painful part of the operation. 

 There is little feeling in the tissues forming the walls of the cavity of the 

 abdomen, and when these are cut through, the hand may be easily introduced. 

 The cow winces a little when the edges of the skin are rubbed, but shows no 

 signs of pain. 



The removal of the ovaries appears very easy, but it is not. If the opera- 

 tor has a strong, sharp thumb-nail, he can work or cut them loose ; but if 

 not, or if the ovary is strongly attached, the operator is obliged to do as the 

 books say — "in short, ^«/^ them away" — and in this is the great danger to 

 the cow ; internal hemorrhage or inflammation is apt to ensue. Dr. Riggs 

 avoids all tliis by the use of the "steel thumb-nail." This is simply a sharp 

 knife, shaped like and bound upon the thumb-nail of the right hand. There 

 is no danger of cutting in the wrong place. A clean cut does not produce 

 lileeding, as was feared at first, and it greatly simplifies and shortens the 

 operation. Dr. Riggs has never operated upon a cow with this instrument 

 when she struggled or attempted to get down, but once, and then she was a 

 little nervous, and came down upon her knees, but soon got up again. 

 Usually there is no struggling throughout the operation. 



32. Calomel for Cows. — A correspondent of the American Farmer writes : 

 "I wish you would say to your readers that calomel, in one-ounce doses, will 



