174 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



Fig. 519.— Fixing 



Forceps for Castra- 

 tion by Torsion 



of the wound and imprisonment of blood -clots, which may decompose 

 and set up septic poisoning. 



Whatever the origin of the custom, we know that verdigris (copper 

 acetate) is a valuable antiseptic, and that the success of this apparently 

 crude application of the antiseptic system is beyond dispute. 

 The method above described is that most commonly 

 practised among those who employ the actual cautery and 

 cast horses as a preliminary to castration, but the details 

 vary, and some operators do not use a knife at all, but 

 divide the coverings of the testes by a thin -edged and 

 very hot iron. Dexterously carried out, this is not so 

 painful as from the bare recital of the method it would 

 appear, the severance being very rapid when the investi- 

 tures are rendered tense by the hand or clamps grasping 

 the scrotum below. 



Haemorrhage from the spermatic artery when imperfectly 

 sealed is the chief danger to be feared ; a moderate amount 

 of bleeding; from the small vessels divided is rather welcomed 

 as presaging less swelling subsequently. 

 On the completion of the operation the inner aspect of the thighs 

 should be anointed with lard or vaseline to prevent scalding of the skin 

 by matter discharged from the wounds in the course of healing, and 

 it may be advisable to tie up the tail when long, lest the decomposing 

 blood and matter gathered upon it be transferred to the wounds and 

 set up septicaemia or blood poisoning. This is especially 

 liable to take place in summer, when flies are troublesome 

 and the tail is lashed between the thighs to effect their dis- 

 placement. 



Torsion. — A favour- 

 ite method on the Con- 

 tinent, and in vogue in 

 some parts of Scotland 

 and Wales, is that of 

 Fig. 52o.-Tor S ion Forceps twisting and drawing 



out the artery until its 

 coats break and all possibility of haemorrhage is precluded. 



To castrate in this manner, the animal has to be cast in the way pre- 

 viously described, and the testicle let out of the purse by the knife. The 

 posterior or non-vascular portion of the cord is then divided, leaving the 

 testicle suspended by the vascular portion alone. The cord is then secured 

 in the clamp above the epididymus. This portion is now seized by the 



