160 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
may happen that, in spite of his exertions, he sometimes may be thrown 
against the operator by the movements she may attempt, and there 
may be an uncontrollable displacement of the plank or bar ; and then 
it may happen that she becomes wounded, and at the same time pre- 
vents the operation, while, by the mode we point out, there is no fear 
of accident, either to the operator or the beast. In case of the want 
of a wall provided with rings, we may use a strong palisade, a solid 
fence, or two trees a suitable distance apart, across which we fix two 
strong bars of wood, separated from each other according to the size 
of the cow. 
“ There is another means of confining them that we have employed 
for some time past, where the cows were very strong and irritable, more 
simple than the preceding, less fatiguing for the animal, less troublesome 
to the operator, and which answers perfectly. It consists : First. In 
leaving the cow almost free, covering her eyes, holding her head by two 
strong assistants, one of whom seizes the nose with his hand and strong- 
ly pinches the nostrils, whenever the animal makes any violent move- 
ments during the operation. Second. To cause another assistant to bold 
the two hind legs, kept together by means of a cord passed above and 
beneath the hocks ; this assistant also holds the tail and pulls it, when- 
ever the animal seeks to change its place. 
“The cow being conveniently disposed, and the instruments and ap- 
pliances, such as curved scissors, upon a table, a convex-edged bistoury, 
a straight one, and one buttoned at the point, a suture needle filled with 
double thread of desired length, pledgets of lint of appropriate size and 
length, a mass of tow (in pledgets) being collected in a shallow basket, 
held by an intelligent assistant, we place ourselves opposite to the left 
flank, onr back turned a little toward the head of the animal ; we cut 
off the hair which covers the hide in the middle of the flanks, at an 
equal distance between the back and the hip, for the space of thirteen 
or fourteen centimetres in circumference; this done, we take the convex 
bistoury, and place it opened between our teeth, the edge out, the joint 
to the left ; then, with both hands, we seize the hide in the middle of 
the flank and form of it a wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and run- 
ning lengthwise of the body. We then direct an assistant to seize with 
his right hand the right side of this wrinkle; we then take the bistoury 
that we held in onr teeth, and we cut the wrinkle at one stroke through 
the middle; the wrinkle having been suffered to go down, a separation 
of the hide is presented of sufficient length to enable us to introduce 
the hand ; thereupon we separate the edges of the hide with the thumb 
and forefinger of the left hand, and in like manner, we cut through the 
abdominal muscles, the Max (slightly obliquely) and the lumbar (across) 
for the distance of a centimetre from the lower extremity of the inci- 
sion made in the hide; this done, armed with the straight bistoury, we 
make a puncture of the peritoneum at the upper extremity of the 
wound ; we then introduce the buttoned bistoury, and move it oblique- 
ly from above to the lower part up to the termination of the incision 
made in the abdominal muscles. The flank being opened, we introduce 
the right hand into the abdomen and direct it along the right side of 
the cavity of the pelvis, behind the cul de saurumen (paunch) and un- 
