394 CATTLE. 



the process, when the usu;il measures have been adopted — when the 

 parts have been bruised and injured, and the animal lias been fatigued 

 and worn out, and the foetus itself probably has not escaped injury, 

 such an operation can scarcely be defended on any principle of 

 Bcienco or humanity. The writer of tliis work has twice attempted 

 the operation, but in neither case did he save either the mother or 

 the calf ; nor is he aware of any English veterinarian who has suc- 

 ceeded. There is an account of one successful case by M, Chretien, 

 but it is one only out of the several that he attempted, and he 

 attempted this, because, on examination, he found that there was a 

 hard tumor in the womb, which nearly half filled the cavity of the 

 pelvis, and forbade the possibility of delivery. 



If a similar impossibility of delivery should occur in the practice of 

 the veterinary surgeon ; and equally justifying the experiment, the 

 operation must be thus performed. The rumen must first be punc- 

 tured at the flank, or some of the solution of the chloride of lime 

 introduced, in order to get rid of any gas which it contains, and thus 

 to bring the uterus better into view, and prevent as much as possible 

 that pressure on it, and on the intestines, which will usually cause a 

 troublesome and dangerous protrusion of them as soon as an incision 

 is made into the belly. The animal is then to be thiown on the left 

 side and properly secured ; the right hind-leg, being detached from 

 the hobbles, must be brought as far backwards as possible, and fixed 

 to some post or firm object, so as to leave the right flank as much 

 exposed as it can be. Commencing about two inches before and a 

 little below the haunch-bone, an incision is now to be made through 

 the skin, six or seven inches long, in a direction from above down- 

 ward, and from behind forward, and this incision is afterwards to be 

 carried through the skin, and the muscular wall of the flank. A 

 bistoury being taken and two fingers introduced into the wound in 

 order to protect the intestines, the wound is to be lengthened five or 

 six inches more over the superior and middle part of the uterus. 



At this moment, probably, a mass of small intestines may protrude ; 

 they must be put a little on one side, or supported by a cloth, and 

 the operator must quickly search for the fore-feet and head of the 

 foetus. An incision must be made through the uterus, of sufficient 

 length to extract the calf, which must be lifted from its bed, two 

 ligatures passed round the cord, the cord divided between them, and 

 the young one, if living, consigned to the care of a stander-by, to bo 

 conveyed away and taken care of. The placenta is now to be quickly 

 yet gently detached, and taken away. The intestines are to be 

 retui-ned to their natural situation, the divided edges of the uterus 

 brought together and retained by means of two or three sutures, the 

 efiused blood sponged out from the abdomen, and the muscular 

 parietes likewise held together by sutures, and other sutures passed 

 through the integuments. Dry soft lint is then to be placed over the 



