THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 117 



reduce the invagination. This operation may appear to some 

 as a very formidable aflfair, very dangerous and painful. But 

 a skilful surgeon, armed with the great godsend — ether, 

 can perform the same without the least danger. I have opened 

 the abdominal cavity several times, in cases of sterility, merely 

 to explore the uterus and ovaries, and never met with any 

 accident, and to encourage those who have never had any 

 experience in the performance of this operation, I relate the 

 following incident. I was requested a short time ago to visit a 

 very valuable Durham cow, the property of Mr. G. Clarke of 

 Hyde Hall Otsego County, N. Y., which had been purchased 

 of Lord Ducie, accompanied by a warranty of pregnancy, by 

 one of the best bulls in England. Time revealed the fact, that 

 she was not pregnant ; she had afterwards, several connections, 

 with the opposite sex, yet could not be impregnated. The 

 object in securing my services was to solve the problem of her 

 sterility. Now comes the pith of the matter. I cast her and 

 explored the vagina, it appeared that there was a sort 

 of hour-glass contraction in the vagina, so that the hand 

 could not be introduced more than six inches ; at this point 

 there appeared to exist a mechanical obstruction to further 

 penetration, this was sufficient evidence of incapacity of the 

 sexual congress, yet having travelled a long distance, at great 

 expense to the owner, and there being some prospect of litiga- 

 tion in the matter, I was determined to remove all doubts. 

 I therefore performed the flank operation, and explored the 

 uterus and ovaries ; the whole were in a state of atrophy, 

 except the right ovary which was as large as the kidney of an 

 ox ; being desirous of ascertaining what the character of the 

 enlargement was, I put my thumb and finger into it, by so doing 

 I ruptured a vessel which bled very profusely ; my immediate 

 impressions were, that the animal miist die of internal 

 hemorrhage. It was a matter of impossibilty to secure the 

 bleeding vessel, so I sutured the incision expecting that the 

 animal would die in the course of a few hours ; but contrary to 

 my expectations she got well, so ; nil desperandum. 



