Oophorectomy is the surgical removal of the ovaries of a female animal. In the case of non-human animals, this is also called spaying. It is a form of sterilization.

The removal of the ovaries together with the Fallopian tubes is called salpingo-oophorectomy. Oophorectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy are not common forms of birth control in humans; more usual is tubal ligation, in which the Fallopian tubes are blocked but the ovaries remain intact.

In humans, oophorectomy is most usually performed together with a hysterectomy - the removal of the uterus. Its use in a hysterectomy when there are no other health problems is somewhat controversial.

In animals, spaying involves an invasive removal of the ovaries, but rarely has major complications; the superstition that it causes weight gain is not based on fact. Spaying is especially important for certain animals that require the ovum to be released at a certain interval (called estrus or "heat"), such as cats and dogs. If the cell is not released during these animal's heat, it can cause severe medical problems that can be averted by spaying or partnering the animal with a male.

Oophorectomy is sometimes referred to as castration, but that term is most often used to mean the removal of a male animal's testicles.

See also

• tubal ligation & birth control
• circumcision
• genital mutilation & female circumcision

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (6 July 1781 - 5 July 1826) was the founder of the city (now country) of Singapore, and is one of the best-known of the many Britons who created the largest empire the world has ever seen.

Little is known of Raffles' parents. At 14 he started working as a clerk in London for the British East India Company, the quasi-government trading company that shaped much of England's overseas conquests. In 1805 he was sent to what is now Penang in the country of Malaysia, then called Prince of Wales Island, starting a long association with southeast Asia.

Raffles was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java in 1811 and promoted to Governor of Sumatra shortly thereafter, during the period Britain took administrative control of the Dutch colonies while the Netherlands were preoccupied with the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. During his Governorship, Raffles introduced partial self-government, stopped the slave trade, restored and researched Borobudur and other ancient monuments, and replaced the Dutch forced agriculture system with a land-tenure system of land management. He also researched and wrote a book entitled History of Java, describing the history of the island from ancient times.

In 1815 he left again for England after the island of Java was returned to control of the Netherlands following the Napoleonic Wars. He came back to the island of Sumatra in 1818, and on 29 January, 1819, he established a free-trade post at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula — a site that became Singapore. Raffles declared the foundation of what was to become modern Singapore on 6 February of that year, securing transfer of control of the island to the East India Company. By the time he left for good in 1823, the city was on its way to become the largest port in the world.

Raffles was also a founder and first president of the Zoological Society of London. He was knighted in 1817.

In Singapore, his name lives on in Raffles Junior College, Raffles Institution, Raffles Hotel, Stamford Road, Stamford House, Raffles City and Raffles Place , while he is also remembered in the name of the largest flower in the world, the Rafflesia.

External link

• British interregnum of Indonesia under Raffles, 1811-1816 http://www.info-indo.com/indonesia/history/06.htm