206 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



she may be operated on in this position, or if the cow is to be sacri- 

 ficed a blow on the head with an ax will produce quietude. Then 

 the prompt cutting into the abdomen and womb and the extraction of 

 the calf requires no skill. If, however, the cow is to be preserved, her 

 two forefeet and the lower hind one should be safely fastened to- 

 gether and the upper hind one drawn back. Two ounces chloral 

 hydrate, given by injection, should induce sleep in 20 minutes, and 

 the operation may proceed. In case the cow is to be preserved, wash 

 the right flank and apply a solution of 4 grains of corrosive sublimate 

 in a pint of water. 



Then, with an ordinary scalpel or knife, dipped in the above-men- 

 tioned solution, make an incision from 2 inches below and in front 

 of the outer angle of the hip bone in a direction downward and 

 slightly forward to a distance of 12 inches. Cut through the muscles, 

 and more carefully through the transparent lining membrane of the 

 abdomen (peritoneum) , letting the point of the knife lie in the groove 

 between the first two fingers of the left hand as they are slid down 

 inside the membrane and with their back to the intestines. An as- 

 sistant, whose hands, like those of the operator, have been dipped in 

 the sublimate solution, may press his hands on the wound behind 

 the knife to prevent the protrusion of the intestines. The operator 

 now feels for and brings up to the wound the gravid womb, allowing 

 it to bulge well through the abdominal wound, so as to keep back the 

 bowels and prevent any escape of water into the abdomen. This is 

 seconded by two assistants, who press the lips of the wound against 

 the womb. Then an incision 12 inches long is made into the womb at 

 its most prominent point, deep enough to penetrate its walls, but 

 not so as to cut into the water bags. In cutting, carefully avoid 

 the cotyledons, which may be felt as hard masses inside. By pressure 

 the water bags may be made to bulge out as in natural parturition, 

 and this projecting portion may be torn or cut so as to let the liquid 

 flow down outside of the belly. The operator now plunges his hand 

 into the womb, seizes the fore or hind limbs, and quickly extracts the 

 calf and gives it to an attendant to convey to a safe place. The wojnb 

 may be drawn out, but not until all the liquid has flowed out, and the 

 fetal membranes must be separated from the natural cotyledons, one 

 by one, and the membranes removed. The womb is noAv emptied with 

 a sponge, which has been boiled or squeezed out of a sublimate solu- 

 tion, and if any liquid has fallen into the abdomen it may be removed 

 in the same way. A few stitches are now placed in the wound in the 

 womb, using carbolized catgut. They need not be very close to- 

 gether, as the w^ound will diminish greatly when the womb con- 

 tracts. Should the womb not contract at once it may have applied 

 against it a sponge squeezed out of a cold sublimate solution, or it 

 may be drawn out of the abdominal wound and exposed to the cold 



