CASTRATION OF THE COW. 
449 
It is quite probable that some of these cows died from dispnoea, 
due to the extensive watery effusion which distended the abdomen 
of many. 
1 found seven cases with blood-clots in the abdominal cavity. 
Of these, three only contained very small clots, which probably 
were not sufficient to cause a fatal peritonitis. However, the 
peritoneum was gangrenous in two of the cases, and no doubt this 
condition was the cause of death. In the third, I am satisfied, 
having seen the animal die, and observed the amount of serum 
afterwards found in the abdoman, that dispnoea was the cause of 
death. 
In the remaining four cases was found a widely diffused mass 
of clotted blood extending all over the lower portion of the ab¬ 
domen, and strung out to the ovarian cord of one side in two of 
the cases, and to both of the cords in the other two. Of course 
these immense clots caused a violent peritonitis, resulting in gan¬ 
grene. Here haemorrhage was the primary cause. Three of 
the remaining cases showed no signs of violent peritonitis, but 
the uterus in each was highly inflamed and its walls gangrenous. 
They had all aborted, with apparently pretty well advanced foe¬ 
tuses, although not beyond the fourth month. The ascites in 
these cases was slight, and the points from which the ovaries had 
been taken seemed to have been doing well. 
The last four of the thirty-five fatal cases were found in the 
river which surrounded an island on which the cows were herded. 
As it was impracticable to open them, the cause of death could not 
be determined, but my belief is that they went into the water to 
drink, and in endeavoring to climb the banks, which were four or 
five feet high, were drowned I opened the thoracic cavity of 
several of the cadavers, but found no abnormal lesions there. 
The stomach and bowels were invariably filled with food, and the 
rectum contained large quantities of hard, dry, impacted fceces. 
Of those cows in which I found gangrenous peritonitis with¬ 
out blood-clots, two died on the second day after operating, three 
on the third, three on the fourth, six on the fifth, three on the 
sixth, two on the seventh, one _on the eighth, and one on the 
ninth day, making in all twenty-one. Of those that presented 
