188 ON THE CJESAREAN OPERATION. 
large that it was quite impossible for it to pass throught he pelvis : 
and under sucli circumstances thought himself perfectly justified 
in performing the operation. The cow appeared to be going on 
well until the twelfth day, when she died rather suddenly. 
On examination after death, the diaphragm was found to be 
ruptured, and in a gangrenous state ; and the vagina was of a 
very dark colour, seeming as if contused. The incision in the 
side and uterus had a. healthy appearance. 
His next case occurred in a very old worn-out cow that had 
exceeded the usual period of gestation about seventeen days. 
He was quite unable to remove the foetus, even by performing 
embryotomy, and he believed it was in consequence of the 
pelvic arch being unusually small. In nine weeks after the 
operation the wound had healed, and the cow was perfectly well, 
and had improved in condition. 
He further observes, “ that since this time I have operated 
on two cows and one sow. Three other cows on which I ope- 
rated terminated fatally, in three, six, and eight days afterwards. 
After death, two of these were found to be affected with perito- 
nitis, evidently the effects of the operation.” 
In page 405 of the same volume there is another case of a 
cow, by Mr. Carlisle, of Wigton. The operation was performed 
in consequence of her having tumbled over a brake into a ditch, 
by which she had completely twisted the uterus, and ruptured 
the lateral ligaments. There is little doubt but that the ope- 
ration would have been favourable had there not have been 
strangulation and sphacelation of the intestines, the conse- 
quences of their being forced into the pelvis. 
This operation is sometimes had recourse to when the animal 
cannot be delivered, for no other purpose than that of saving a 
valuable progeny ; for which object the animal is knocked on 
the head, and the fetus removed as quickly as possible. A 
case in point will be found in the “ Proceedings of the Veteri- 
nary Medical Association,” London, during the scholastic session 
of 1839-40, in an Essay by Mr. J. Bowles, of Cambridge ; but 
I think he might as well have operated on her when alive, and 
so given her a chance of life. 
I shall, most probably, enter upon the mode of operating in 
my next. 
