1 IS 
TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
slight modification, without, however, at all altering the prin¬ 
ciple. The operation per vaginam only dates from 1850. The 
idea is claimed by two veterinary practitioners, MM. Prange 
and Charlier, and their respective claims remain unsettled 
to the present day. When M. Charlier first began to prac¬ 
tise this mode of operating, he used four instruments: first, 
a dilator of the vagina; second, a curved bistoury passing 
into the handle; third, a long-handled pair of forceps; 
fourth, a pair of torsion forceps. These instruments are to 
be about fifty centimetres in length. The arm, well greased, 
is introduced into the vagina, and when the uneasiness which 
the animal at first evinces has somewhat subsided, the dilator 
is introduced, and fixed in the os uteri, and by moving the 
spring, the organ becomes distended. The bistoury is now 
introduced, the blade pushed out of the handle, and an inci¬ 
sion is made in the upper part of the vagina, in the centre, 
and about two fingers’ breadth from the os uteri. The hand 
and bistoury and dilator are now withdrawn, and on the 
hand being re-introduced, the operator with the index and 
middle fingers seeks the ovaries, which he brings into the 
vagina, and these are secured by the forceps fixed a little 
above on the ovarian ligament. This done, the forceps are 
held by the assistant pressing them tightly, but without pull¬ 
ing; the torsion forceps are now introduced, and directed 
towards the hand, which has remained in the vagina, the 
ovary is then placed between the fangs. The twisting is 
done from the outside of the vulva, with a slight traction at 
each twist. The ovary is thus gradually detached and drawn 
out, and the same is done with the other. The forceps being 
now withdrawn, the ligament enters into the abdomen, and 
no further treatment is required. When the cow is strong, 
and the vagina large, the dilator may be dispensed with, 
using the left hand to push the uterus back and distend the 
vagina, while the incision is made with the right. Such is 
the process adopted by M. Charlier to castrate the cow, which 
he has since much modified and perfected by the invention 
of other instruments, of which the woodcuts in this work 
give a correct idea. 
M. Lolin has further simplified the operation by using 
only three instruments, namely, a covered bistoury and two 
forceps. M. Colin makes his incision, not seven or eight 
centimetres from the neck of the uterus, but close to it, 
where the walls of the vagina are more on the stretch, and 
consequently dispenses with the dilator of the vagina. The 
incision, according to him, need not be so small as to admit 
only two fingers, but may be made large enough to admit 
