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HUBERT T. FOOTE 
essential. Lastly, secure the cow in a position slightly inclined 
forward, and I think no better apparatus can be adopted than the 
one I used. 
Care to be observed during the operation .—In the first place, 
oil your hands and arms thoroughly with sweet oil; then pass one 
hand into the vagina before inserting the speculum, to see that 
there are no purulent collections within ; such are sometimes 
found, and are generally due to metro-vaginitis. It is necessary 
in these cases to thoroughly cleanse the vaginal cavity before op¬ 
erating. Before using the instruments see that they are perfectly 
clean, and after finishing the operation on one cow, if another is 
to be operated upon, a tub of clean water should be at hand to 
throw them into. It is very important to avoid getting the least 
particle of dirt into the peritoneal cavity, where it would 
probably produce fatal complications. In making the incision, 
care must be used not to start it too far back ; as then there is 
danger of injuring the rectum, or becoming embarrassed in the 
lateral ligaments which descend from that organ. Besides, when 
the incision is well forward, the hemorrhage is very slight, gen¬ 
erally not enough to stain one’s fingers, while it is always more ex¬ 
tensive the further back the wound is made. This applies also to the 
incision made away from the median line. The further it is to 
one side, the more extensive is the hemorrhage, and furthermore 
leaves more danger of the formation of abcesses. 
In some cases the peritoneal coat is detached from the middle 
coat of the vagina, and one fails to incise it with the same stroke 
that cuts the rest of the vaginal wall. If this occurs, the air 
enters under the peritoneum, and distends that membrane forward 
into the abdominal cavity. Considerable difficulty is now experi¬ 
enced in dividing it, the best plan being to invert the hand con¬ 
taining the knife, and endeavoring to sever it with a forward 
stroke, using great care, however, not to injure any of the organs 
against which it now lies. A few cases will be met in which one 
of the ovaries is the seat of cysts of sundry degenerations, of more 
or less volume. Caution must be observed in these cases not to 
break the cyst in the abdomen. Gourdon says: “ These cysts 
occur in cows that have been in heat many times without receiv- 
