CASTRATION. o73 
sometimes practised to avoid it. The testicle can now be cleared of its 
coverings, and the hand laying hold of it gently, the operator raises it 
from its bed, and slips the clams on each side the cord, at once making 
the proper pressure with them, which should be sufficient to prevent all 
risk of the part inclosed slipping from between its jaws. Great care 
should be taken that the whole of the testicle, including the epididimis, 
is external to the clams ; and as soon as this is satisfactorily ascertained, 
the cord may be divided with the ordinary firing-iron at a red heat. To 
make sure that no hemorrhage shall occur, some operators sear the artery 
separately with a pointed iron ; but if the division is slowly made with the 
heated iron, and avoiding any drag upon the cord, no such accident will 
be at all likely to follow, though very rarely it will happen in spite of 
every care. The clams may now be removed, and the other testicle 
treated in the same way; after which the hobbles are cautiously re- 
moved, and the patient is placed in a roomy loose box, where he can 
take sufficient exercise to insure the gravitation of the discharge, but 
no more. 
THe FRreNcH PLAN, by means of caustic, requires two pieces of wood, 
each about six inches long and an inch square, with a notch or neck at 
each end, to hold the twine by which they are tied together, and a groove in 
the two opposite surfaces, to hold the caustic. This is composed of one part 
of corrosive sublimate and four of flour, made into a paste with water, and 
it is introduced while moist into the grooves, which it should completely fill. 
The horse is then secured as before, the cord is exposed, the pieces of 
wood are adjusted on each side, and firmly held together with pincers 
by an assistant, while the operator binds their ends together with waxed 
string. The testicle may now be removed with the knife, if the string 
has been tied sufficiently tight ; but unless the operator has had some 
experience, it is safer to let it remain on till it comes away by the ulcer- 
ation of the cord. ‘This is the uncovered operation, the covered one being 
performed with the same instruments, as follows. ‘The scrotum is grasped, 
and opened, taking care to avoid wounding the tunica vaginalis reflexa, 
or outer serous investment, but cutting down to it through the skin, dartos 
muscle, and cellular membrane. These are to be carefully dissected back, 
until the cord can be isolated without wounding its serous investment 
(tunica vaginalis), which is so thin that it is easy to ascertain with cer- 
tainty the nature of its contents by examination with the fingers. If 
there is no hernia, the caustic can at once be applied to its outside in the 
same way as before; and if there is, it must be pushed back into the 
cavity of the abdomen, by a little careful manipulation. 
SOME VETERINARY SURGEONS operate in a similar way to one or other of 
the two last described plans, with the omission of the caustic, which they 
maintain is wholly unnecessary, for there must be sufficient pressure to 
cause a sloughing of the cord. There is certainly some truth in this 
argument, but if the pressure has not been sufficient to cause the sloughs, 
the caustic will assure that essential process, and thus it renders the opera- 
tion safer, though it somewhat increases the subsequent local inflammation. 
The plan without caustic is almost precisely the same, as far as safety is 
concerned, as that formerly adopted by country farriers, called “ twitching,” 
in which two pieces of wood were applied on each side the base of the 
scrotum, and tied firmly at each end. The pain, however, occasioned by 
the pressure on so large a surface of skin is intense, and the operation is 
on that account indefensible, besides which it is not nearly so successful 
as either the ordinary English or French operations. 
Bp 
