CASTRATION OF THE COW. 
458 
the abdominal viscera have ever before been exposed. During the 
operation the air rushes in and out of the abdomen through the 
vagina and the incision through its walls, and, at a temperature 
below 60° F., as it was on the days on which I operated, it must 
necessarily set up an intense congestion, which rapidly progresses 
into inflammation. The extensiveness of the peritonitis in nearly 
all the cadavers that I opened, attacking at the same time the 
visceral layer as well as the parietal, indicates the cause to a great 
degree to have been the chilling of this membrane. Most of the 
cows that died had aborted, but the fcetuses were so young that 
I lay little stress on this fact and consider it to have been a second¬ 
ary i ather than a primary trouble. I do not regard this opera¬ 
tion as dangerous on account of pregnancy, if the foetus be not 
more than three or at most four months in utero. It may be diffi¬ 
cult to reach the ovaries where the pregnancy is approaching the 
fourth month, but this may be easily ascertained before operating 
by feeling for them per rectum. None of these cows were over 
four months in pregnancy, and there was no trouble in securing 
the ovaries in any of them, but the tension on the broad ligament 
always endangers the ovary breaking away too quickly and thus 
causing haemorrhage, or, from the strain to the membrane in 
bringing the ovary to a point where the ecraseur can be applied, 
setting up a severe peritonitis. Though it was impossible to get 
any reliable statistics of the number of cows that aborted and at 
the same time recovered, my opinion is that a very small per¬ 
centage would cover the cases. 
The peritonitis always assumes the acute type, and is very 
rapid in its progress, as is shown by two cows having died from 
gangrene of the peritoneum on the second day after the opera¬ 
tion, while none of the animals showed any unfavorable symptoms 
on the first morning after, those that I spayed on the first day 
looking so well the next morning that I did not expect a loss 
among them, and was encouraged to continue my operations on 
the remainder. Most of the cows that died from the peritonitis 
however, suffered much longer than the above two. The first 
symptoms are, the sudden cessation of milk, the animal becomes 
greatly depressed, indifferent to all surroundings, shivers, eats and 
