172 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



maintained pure if at pasture the sexes are permitted to associate, and the 

 inconvenience of having to keep them apart on an ordinary farm holding 

 would very materially interfere with horse-breeding. In the town stable 

 a similar objection applies, notwithstanding that certain mechanical re- 

 straints are employed to keep mares apart and stallions from fighting. 



Castration in some crude form would seem to have been a means 

 adopted very early in the history of the world, not only for the purposes 

 of taming and controlling animals used in the service of man, but also for 

 improving their flesh. In the Pentateuch we have references to animals 

 "maimed, broken or lacking in their parts", and a very distinct one to 

 mulling 1 as still practised in Asia. 



Age. — It is usual in this country to castrate yearlings, provided the 

 colt has wintered well and developed sufficiently in the forehand. There 

 is much to recommend this custom, inasmuch as the animal may continue 

 after operation to run with other horses. It is, however, found that some 

 considerable number of colts are not fit for operation at this age, for the 

 reason that only one testicle is to be seen in the scrotum, the other not 

 having made the second descent (they are both usually present at birth). 

 It is then advisable to wait until autumn or perhaps until the following 

 spring. Castration is also postponed until the second year when colts are 

 low at the wither, light or of ewe-formation in the neck, or generally back- 

 ward in development, or where it is desired to have male features more 

 pronounced. For the last reason, operation may be deferred until the 

 third season, when all the inconveniences of keeping an entire horse are 

 of course encountered. When the operation is too long deferred the 

 shoulders become thick and heavy, the crest high and coarse, and the 

 forehead broad; in a word, the masculine features which distinguish the 

 horse from the gelding become developed. 



METHODS OF OPERATION 



These are many, and vary not only in different countries, but also in 

 counties and districts of England. Some are practised while the animal is 

 upon his feet; others necessitate casting with hobbles or ropes. 



The oldest, and what is still regarded by many expert operators as the 

 best method, is by actual cautery. Hobbles of various designs (see Methods 

 of Restraint) are employed by some operators, while others attain their object 

 with no other apparatus than a wagon rope (see Plates LI and LV). 



The colt being cast upon his left side, and the hind-limbs drawn for- 

 ward out of the way of the castrator, the parts are fully exposed. The 



1 Lerit. xxi. 20: "or having his stones broken". Deut. xxiii. 1. 



