50-2 
ON THE SPAYING OF COWS. 
calved. She gave about eight and a half pots daily of clear se¬ 
rous milk. She did not lose a single meal in consequence of the 
operation. As early as the eleventh day her milk returned, but 
it had become much more creamy than before the spaying. She 
continued to give the same quantity of milk, but of a better cha¬ 
racter, for eight months, when she ate some poisonous mushrooms. 
The swelling came on so rapidly, and to so great an extent, that 
she was destroyed. 
Case VI.—On the 8th of March, 1834, a cow, belonging to 
M. Francillon, eight years old, and having had five calves, was 
spayed thirty days after her calving. She yielded before the 
operation nine pots of milk daily. During many months she 
continued to yield eight or nine pots, according to the goodness 
of her keep, and then the milk began to diminish gradually in 
proportion as she got fat. 
M. Francillon calculated that during ten months she yielded 
on an average at least seven pots of milk per day; then she 
began rapidly to grow fat, and the milk diminished to one pot. 
It is, however, to be observed that this cow, which had been 
vicious, and which had seemed to have forgotten her vicious 
habits after she had been spayed, began again to exhibit all her 
former tricks as she got into condition, and it at length became 
necessary to trammel her, in order to milk her without danger. 
She fought stoutly against this, and this constant struggle might 
have materially contributed to the diminution of her milk. In 
suite of all these things she accumulated flesh and fat, and was 
killed in good condition, for the supply of the household of M. 
Francillon, in March 1835. 
Case VII.—On the 10th of March, in the same year, M. Mi- 
liquet requested me to spay a cow that had had a calf four 
months before. Having understood that she was at heat, I re¬ 
fused to operate, explaining to M. Miliquet the danger that would 
ensue from spaying a cow in that condition. I told him that, 
although I had not yet acquired any experience on this point, I 
deemed it prudent to defer the operation for some days. He 
replied that the cow would not remain at heat more than twenty- 
four hours, and entreated me not to delay the operation, since he 
was, on the following week, compelled to go into a neighbouring 
canton to purchase cows. The operation was performed without 
any hemorrhage, a point which the proprietor himself remarked. 
During that day she did not a])pear to have suffered materially 
from the operation, but towards the evening of the following day 
she was dull, and refused to eat. Instead of sending for me, 
M. Miliquet went to consult the cowherd of M. Francillon, who 
told him that he had nothing to fear. On the following morn- 
