DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY. 
501 
Technique .—Operate on the standing animal. Stocks are 
par excellence the proper means of restraint and are essential to 
the best results. In absence of stocks other means of restraint 
may be improvised. Secure the head elevated, prevent arching 
of the back or rearing, by a rope over the back, prevent lying 
down by two straps beneath the body, and movements back¬ 
ward or forward by ropes or straps behind and before the 
animal; pinion all four feet and secure the tail tightly stretched 
upward to a beam. 
With soap, water and brush cleanse the tail, perineum and 
f vulva thoroughly, being especially careful to remove all de¬ 
tachable masses of sebum, 50 per cent, alcohol may be used 
sparingly to aid in removing the sebum. Too free a use of 
alcohol excoriates the delicate skin. Cleanse the clitoris care¬ 
fully. Follow the washing with a free application of 1 : 1000 
aqueous sublimate solution to the external parts and for a short 
distance (^cm.) inside the vulvar lips and to the clitoris. Do 
not introduce disinfectants into the healthy vagina nor deeply 
into the vulva as it will cause severe straining during and sub¬ 
sequent to the operation and by injuring the vulvo-vaginal 
mucosa favor subsequent infection of the vaginal wound. 
Wash away the sublimate solution with a tepid sterile .6 per 
cent, soda bicarbonate solution, and fill the vulvo-vaginal canal 
with the same. After thorough disinfection of the hands and 
arms remove the disinfectants by washing in sterile soda solu¬ 
tion, which at the same time renders the hand unctuous and 
readily introduced through the vulva. Armed with the steri¬ 
lized scalpel introduce the right hand into the vagina promptly 
and when the vagina is well “ballooned” unslieath the knife 
and placing it just above the os uteri (/ Fig. 25) parallel to the 
long axis of the uterus and a few mm, to the right or left of 
