410 
HUBERT T. FOOTE. 
The first reliable documents which we possess on this subject 
are by Oliver de Serres, showing that the operation dates back to 
at least the lGth century, when it was practiced for the purpose 
of fattening the animals and improving their meat. It has been 
practiced to some extent in all of the European countries since, 
but very little, until Thomas Winn, of Natchez, Miss., in the year 
1831, discovered its utility in increasing the flow and quality of 
the milk by operating on the cow about one month after calving. 
He died without making his discovery publicly known, but having 
described it to a traveler, his results were carried to Europe, 
where Mons. Levrat was the first to experiment in the operation. 
Many other Europeans soon followed him in this practice. 
Noticeable among them was Mons. Charlier, who devoted his life 
to its further development, and is credited with being the first to 
perform ovariotomy by the vaginal method. As to the different 
modes that have been employed in performing this operation, they 
have been varied in one respect, that is, in the manner of remov¬ 
ing the ovaries. Only two methods have been employed for enter¬ 
ing the abdominal cavity, one being through the flank, while the 
other is through the vaginal walls. Levrnt, who was the first to 
give his experience on the castration of cows, operated through 
the left side, without preparing the animal save by depriving her 
of her morning meal, hie made his incision through the flank 
vertically, half way between the external angle of the ilium and 
the last rib, and removed the ovaries by scraping tire vessels, fal¬ 
lopian tubes and ligaments with his thumb nail until those organs 
were detached, or, as he removed them at a later period, try means 
of torsion, twisting one at a time, the three small ligaments 
attaching the ovary to the broad ligament until they broke, when 
that organ would come away readily. 
Among other operators, opinion varied as to the best side in 
which to make the incision, Charlier favoring the right, in conse¬ 
quence of the danger of injuring the rumen in entering the left 
flank, or of after-adhesion of that organ to the wound, which 
would interfere with the free exercise of its functions—incon¬ 
veniences not to be dreaded on the right side. While Levrat 
made the incision through both the skin and the abdominal mus- 
