146 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



men taking your scalpel in your right hand, 

 make a section in the skin, in the most depending 

 part of the bag, through the integuments, and 

 of sufficient length for the testicle to protrude 

 itself through ; lay down your scalpel and 

 grasp the protruded testicle with your riglit 

 hand, and gently draw back the scrotum with 

 the other, so as to expose the spermatic cord, 

 on which fasten the clams sufficiently tiglit to 

 prevent its slipping ; then take your searing 

 ■ iron of a dark red heat, and saw the testicle 

 off ; I say saw, because if you make use of a 

 saw-like motion, the end of the cord becomes 

 cerated thereby, and requires but little more 

 from the iron ; thougli in all cases it is neces- 

 sary to touch the end of the cord again before 

 you loosen the clams, to prevent bleeding ; but 

 if care be taken, and not being too much in a 

 hurry, it will be easily accomplished. Now 

 loosen your clams gradually, and if blood does 

 not seem to appear, proceed with the other in 

 the same way ; should a little blood escape 

 from the first orifice, do not feel alarmed, for it 

 may be only from the Horse's struggling; let 

 the Horse get up, and be placed for a few days 

 in a barn or out-house. Give, immediately 

 you have housed your Horse, a diuretic altera- 

 tive ball, as under : 



Take Cape aloes - 3 drams. 

 Resin - - 2 do. 

 Form into a ball with soft soap. 



Continue the feed of bran mashes for three 

 or four days, when turn him out ; I have 

 never found this simple method fail, if proper 

 care be given ; though in some counties, 

 I wonder more do not die than do, from 

 the rough brutal manner in which the 

 Operation is performed ; for instance, in the 

 county of Gloucester, the operator, the first 



thing he does, is to withdraw the penis, vvipe 

 it clean, and smear it well after with hoar's 

 lard, as he says to make the Horse drmv his 

 yard easy ; then, after having performed the 

 operation by burning the scrotum open to evacu- 

 ate the testicle, and having removed it, he pours 

 into the sac a quantity of green ointment, then 

 comes the hog's lard again, to the tune of 

 about half a pound to supple his thighs. A 

 similar method they have in Devonshire ; 

 added to which they sew up the scrotum 

 after performing the operation, to prevent the 

 artery from bleeding the Horse to death. But 

 these are all whims of old practitioners for 

 want of knowing the anatomy of parts. Some 

 veterinarians will not perform the operation at 

 all, but the reason must be obvious, as it is 

 decidedly a surgical one *. 



* Whilst serving with my regiment in India, I was 

 asked my opinion of a beautiful chesnut-horse, relative to 

 castration ; though the Horse was perfectly quiet and 

 docile ; but the scrotum had become so much enlarged in 

 one of the sacs, that it hung down within a few inches of 

 the Horse's hock ; the appearance was displeasing, and the 

 noise the Horse made in gallopping by its flapping against 

 his thighs was such that it became remarkable; and the 

 owner consulted me as before stated. I examined the 

 scrotum, and found the testicle remarkably small, but it 

 contained a considerable quantity of fluid ; in fact, the Horse 

 was affected with hydrocele. I could easily have extracted 

 the fluid, but fearing the bag might fill again, I consented 

 to operate ; and accordingly, as I had anticipated, on cut- 

 ting through the tunics of the scrotum, at least three 

 quarts of yellowish fluid escaped ; at this time I felt great 

 difficulty in retaining my hold of the testicle, from the 

 considerable enlargement of the scrotum ; however, I did 

 so, and from the amazing length of cord I was obliged to 

 draw down, I had great contention with the cremaster 

 muscle ; however, I succeeded and placed my clams t on 



t The clams used in India are about five inches long, 

 made of a round piece of wood, about the size of tlic 

 handle of a sweeping broom ; this is then sift down the 

 middle, so that there is two flat sides, these sides hav« 

 a groove up the middle about the size of a goose quill ; 

 the groove is filled with corrosive sublimate one dram, 



