leO DO^IESTIO ANIMALS. 



may happen that, in spite of his exertions, he sometimes may be thrown 

 against the operator by the movements she may attempt, and there 

 may be an uncontrollable displacement of the plank or bar; and then 

 it may happen that she becomes wounded, and at the same time pre- 

 vents the operation, while, by the mode we point out, there is no fear 

 of accident, either to the operator or the beast. In case of the want 

 of a wall provided with rings, w^e may use a strong palisade, a solid 

 fence, or two trees a suitable distance apart, across which we fix two 

 stroncr bars of wood, separated fro n each other according to the size 

 of the cow. 



" There is another means of confining them that we have employed 

 for some time past, where the cows were very strong and irritable, more 

 simple than the preceding, less fatiguing for the animal, less troublesome 

 to the operator, and which answers perfectly. It consists: First. In 

 leaving the cow almost free, covering her eyes, holding her head by two 

 strong assistants, one of whom seizes the nose witli his hand and strong- 

 ly pinches the nosfrils, whenever the animal makes any violent move- 

 ments during the operation. Second. To cause another assistant to hold 

 the two hind legs, kept together by means of a cord passed above and 

 beneath the hocks; this assistant also holds the tail and pulls it, when- 

 ever the animal seeks to change its place. 



"The cow being conveniently disposed, and the instruments and ap- 

 pliances, such as curved scissors, upon a table, a convex-edged bisroury, 

 a straight one, and one buttoned at the point, a suture needle filled with 

 double thread of desired length, pledgets of lint of appropriate size and 

 length, a mass of tow (in pledgets) being collected in a sliallow basket, 

 held by an intelligent assistant, we place ourselves opposite to the left 

 flank, our back turned a little toward the head of the animal ; we cut 

 off the hair which covers the hide in the mi<ldle of the flanks, at an 

 equal distance between the back and the hip, for the space of thirteen 

 or fourteen centimetres in circumference; this done, we take the convex 

 bistoury, and place it opened between our teeth, the edge out, the joint 

 to the left; then, with both hands, we seize the hide in the middle of 

 the flank and form of it a wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and run- 

 ning lengthwise of the body. We then direct an assistant to seize with 

 his right hand the right side of this wrinkle; we then take the bistoury 

 that we held in our teeth, and we cut the wrinkle at one stroke through 

 the middle; the wrinkle having been suffered to go down, a separation 

 of the hide is presented of sufficient length to enable us to introduce 

 the hand; thereupon we separate the edges of the hide with the thumb 

 and forefinger of the left hand, and in like manner, we cut through the 

 abdominal muscles, the iliax (slightly obliquely) and the lumbar (across) 

 for the distance of a centimetre from the lower extremity of the inci- 

 sion made in the hide; this done, armed with the straight bistoury, we 

 make a puncture of the peritoneum at the upper extremit}'' of the 

 wound; we then introduce the buttoned bistoury, and move it oblique- 

 ly from above to the lower part up to the termination of the incision 

 made in the abdominal muscles. The flank being oi)ened, we introduce 

 the right hand into the abdomen and direct it along the right side of 

 the cavity of the pelvis, behind the cul de saurumen (paunch) and un- 



