498 
ON thp: spaying of cows. 
from the operation, M. Wiim castrated two other valuable cows, 
and, determined to avoid the casualties by which the others had 
been destroyed, he resolved to keep them in the cow-house, or 
in some inclosed place in which no harm could come to them ; 
and he kept them there, and fed them well during a whole year. 
** This experiment completely confirmed the value of the opera¬ 
tion when it is desired to reserve the cows as milkers; and an 
American traveller, who saw these cows, three years after they had 
been spayed, was assured by M. Winn, that they had constantly 
given the same quantity of milk during the whole of the time, 
and he was convinced that they were in as good condition as 
could possibly be desired.'^ 
M. Winn has been dead some years. He was a well-in¬ 
formed man, and much respected at Natchez. He had refused 
to make the discovery public at first, because he feared that 
there was no novelty in it; and afterwards he thought that the 
very nature of it would render it ridiculous in the estimation of 
those who had not had actual experience of its value. 
The operation ought to be performed between the twentieth 
and thirty-sixth day after calving, on a sound cow and in good 
health, and after her second or third calving, for that was the 
time when she yielded the greatest quantity of milk, and her 
oestrum had not then returned—a circumstance that was to be 
avoided with the greatest care. No preparation was necessary 
before the operation, except not to give the usual quantity of food 
on the preceding night, and to effect the operation before she 
ate on the followino; mornino;, 
The spaying might be performed on cows of all ages and at 
all seasons, but it would answer better on young cattle; and, if it 
were convenient, should take place on some fine morning in the 
spring or autumn. 
The method in which M. Levrat was accustomed to perform the 
operation of spaying has been already related in the eighth volume 
of The Veterinarian, p. 453, but he has since somewhat 
altered his mode of proceeding; we adopt his own language :— 
The cow being fixed as before described, I no longer use the 
bar of wood which was placed in front of her hind legs, but I 
confine them by means of a cord passed round them in the form 
of a figure of 8, and secured with a running knot. 
Having made the proper incision, and found the ovaries, as 
formerly mentioned, I seize one of them, and with the thumb 
on one side and the middle finger on the other break through 
the layers of the ligaments of the ovary immediately above that 
organ, and by a motion of the thumb from the right to the left, 
or from before backwards, as it regards the ovary, I detach the 
