22 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



and portions of the cord are scraped until the sepa- 

 ration takes place. They are thus placed in good 

 condition for their temporary closure. This method 

 is probably attended with a diminished amount of 

 hemorrhage, and if carefully performed, it may be 

 entirely absent, the clot closing the artery, and the 

 condition of the lacerated threads of the vessel acting 

 favorably, as well, in preventing it. The manipula- 

 tions are similar to those accompanying the simple 

 excision, though it is better and more safely effected 

 when the animal is on his back. The testicles being 

 exposed by the incision through the envelopes, the 

 posterior septum of the cord is cut through by a 

 transverse section, and the scraping of the anterior 

 fasciculus of the cord then performed, by a slow 

 movement from above downwards, along a certain 

 extent, in order to effect a solution of continuity by 

 a sort of wearing through the tissues. This opera- 

 tion is slow and requires a careful hand for its execu- 

 tion. But as it may in some cases be followed by 

 severe hemorrhage, it cannot, for that reason, be 

 recommended for large animals, for solipeds espe- 

 cially. 



TEARING AND TORSION. 



These two modes of operation may, to a great ex- 

 tent, be considered as identical. Indeed, the mode 

 of torsion may be said to have arisen principally as a 

 modification of that of tearing, which is the older. 

 In tearing, the cord was subjected to a certain amount 

 of torsion by the liand, and then torn apart at a given 



