ctly still. Her left fore leg being bent at
the knee by one person, another may seize the left horn and nose and turn
the head to the right until the nose rests on the spine just above the
shoulder. The cow will sink down gently on her left side without shock or
struggle. One may now hold the head firmly to the ground, while a second,
carrying the end of the tail from behind forward on the inside of the right
thigh, pulls upon it so as to keep the right hind limb well raised from the
ground. If time presses she may be operated on in this position, or if the
cow is to be sacrificed a blow on the head with an ax will produce
quietude. Then the prompt cutting into the abdomen and womb and the
extraction of the calf requires no skill. If, however, the cow is to be
preserved, her two forefeet and the lower hind one should be safely
fastened together and the upper hind one drawn back. Two ounces chloral
hydrate, given by injection, should induce sleep in 20 minutes, and the
operation may proceed. In case the cow is to be preserved, wash the right
flank and apply a solution of 4 grains of corrosive sublimate in a pint of
water.

Then, with an ordinary scalpel or knife, dipped in the above-mentioned
solution, make an incision from 2 inches below and in front of the outer
angle of the hip bone in a direction downward and slightly forward to a
distance of 12 inches. Cut through the muscles, and more carefully through
the transparent lining membrane of the abdomen (peritoneum), letting the
point of the knife lie in the groove between the first two fingers of the
left hand as they are slid down inside the membrane and with their back to
the intestines. An assistant, whose hands, like those of the operator, have
been dipped in the sublimate solution, may press his hands on the wound
behind the knife to prevent the protrusion of the intestines. The operator
now feels for and brings up to the wound the gravid womb, allowing it to
bulge well through the abdominal wound, so as to keep back the bowels and
prevent any escape of water into the abdomen. This is seconded by two
assistants, who press the lips of the wound against the womb. Then an
incision 12 inches long is made into the womb at its most prominent point,
deep enough to penetrate its walls, but not so as to cut into the water
bags. In cutting, carefully avoid the cotyledons, which may be felt as hard
masses inside. By pressure the water bags may be made to bulge out as in
natur