ANIMAL CASTRATION. 81 



sequent illness, even to the extent of a slight elevation 

 of temperature, others, on the contrary, show unmis- 

 takable signs of a general inflammatory condition 

 and this is the more marked and definite as the con- 

 dition of the wound has been left in a more or less 

 complicated state. The presence of the ligature or of 

 a portion of the cord which has yet to complete the 

 sloughing action, following the method by cauteriza- 

 tion and by the clamps, are sufficient to encourage 

 the inflammatory tendency. 



MODES OF CICATRIZATION. 



The cicatrization of the wound of castration takes 

 place in two ways. "While the upper part heals by 

 adhesive inflammation at and above the point where 

 the amputation has been performed, it is below that 

 point in a process of cicatrization by the second in- 

 tention, the parts filling up by the development of 

 granulations, and being accused by an abundant 

 suppurative process. The first fact observed is that 

 the parts become more or less swollen. The swell- 

 ing is at first limited to the edges of the wound, but 

 increases and spreads to the scrotum, then to the 

 sheath, or even extends forwards and backwards to 

 the perineal region. A flow of serosity will be ob- 

 served almost immediately following the operation, 

 at first thin and yellowish, but will, before the second 

 or third day, become thicker and more purulent in 

 character, so progressing that after that period it 

 will become a laudable, creamy pus, in evidence of 

 the process going forward towards the establishment 



