366 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF 



SPAYING cows. 



Before I commence to point out the method of spaying, 

 it may be proper to allude briefly to the female organs of 

 generation. 



Uterus^ <yr Womb. — This is a hollow, musculo-membranous 

 organ, united to the front part of the vagina, and terminating 

 beneath the anus, in what is known as the lips of the puden- 

 dum. The womb is destined for the reception of the foetus. 

 It is situated within the cavity of the pelvis, between the re- 

 gion of the bladder and that of the rectum, and is an organ 

 capable of extraordinary distention. 



The womb is divided into body, horns, neck, and mouth. The 

 body is the oblong, cylindrical part, growing out of the front 

 part of the vagina, in the centre of which it terrninates, in- 

 ternally, by the mouth of the womb, termed by physicians the os 

 uteri. The front part of the body of the womb, by branching 

 into two divisions, forms the horns ; they diverge laterally — 

 sideways — towards the front part of the pelvis, and finally 

 terminate in oval extremities, fallopian tubes, and lastly, the 

 testes, or ovaries. The part termed the neck protrudes back- 

 ward into the vagina, and is only perceptible when the parts 

 are unimpregnated. 



The uterus and ovaries are partly covered, and confined to 

 the sides of the pelvis, by a portion of the peritoneum, called 

 broad or lateral ligaments, which also enclose within its folds 

 the fallopian tubes. 



The ovaries are two soft bodies, about the size of a walnut, 

 and resembling somewhat in form the testicles of the male. 

 They are filled with little vesicles, or bladders, which can be 

 seen through the surface texture, containing a small quantity 

 of a whitish yellow fluid. These yellow bodies, or spots, termed 

 corpora lutea, are supposed to contain the ova. The cica- 

 trices, or marks left in the region where the vesicles have burst, 

 denote the number of times the animal has been impregnated. 

 The contents of the ovarian vesicles, frpm orte or both testicles, 



