266 



A DICTIONARY. 



much, that the scrotum and dartos muscle 

 must be cautiously cut through, without 

 dividing the tunica vaginalis. It was Mon- 

 sieur Berger, who was accidentally at my 

 house when I was about to castrate a horse, 

 and who, on my saying that I should prob- 

 ably do it with the cautery, expressed his 

 surprise that I should perform the operation 

 in any other way than on the plan generally 

 approved of in France. Being a stranger 

 to it, he Idndly consented to preside at the 

 operation, and, after seeing him perform on 

 the near testicle, I did the same on the 

 right, but, of com-se, not with the same fa- 

 cility. After opening the scrotum, and 

 dissecting tlnrougii the dartos, which is very 

 readily done by passing the knife lightly 

 over its fibres ; the testicle, and its covering, 

 the tunica vaginalis, must be taken in the 

 right hand, while the left should be em- 

 ployed in pushing back the scrotum from 

 its attachments ; and, having your assistant 

 ready, as before, with the clam, it must be 

 placed well above the epididymis, and great- 

 er pressure is, of course, necessary, as the 

 vaginal covering is included in the clam.' 



" Mr. Goodwin further observes, that in 

 Russia he has seen hundreds of horses op- 

 erated on, even after the human fashion, 

 with safety ; and, he remarks, it certainly 

 produces less pain, the animal loses less 

 flesh and condition, and is sooner recovered 

 than when operated on by the actual cautery. 



" Castration by ligature is a painful, bar- 

 barous, and very dangerous practice : and 

 consists in inclosing the testicles and scro- 

 tum within ligatures, until mortification oc- 

 curs, and they drop off". It is practised by 

 some breeders on their young colts, but it 

 is always hazardous, and disgracefully cruel. 

 The substance of the testicle in some coun- 

 tries is also broken down either by rubbing, 

 or otherwise by pressure between two hard 

 bodies : this is practised in Algiers, instead 

 of excision, and tetanus is a frequent con- 

 sequence of it. In Portugal they twist 

 round the testicle, and thus stop the circu- 

 lation of the gland. Division of the vas 

 deferens has been performed, it is said, with 

 success, on many animals ; and is proposed 



as a safe and less painful process than the 

 emasculation of the horse. It consists in a 

 longitudinal section through the scrotum, 

 dartos, and vaginal sheath, so as to expose 

 the cord, from which the vas deferens is to 

 be separated and severed from the artery and 

 vein. There is a certain consent of parts, 

 by which the sympathy of an organ remains 

 after its functional offices are apparently 

 destroyed. There can be little doubt but 

 the nervous excitement would continue, the 

 vein and artery remaining entire. There 

 are certain nice conditions of the organ 

 necessary for propagatioft ; thus, the horse 

 who retains his testicles within his abdo- 

 men, possesses all the roguish qualities of 

 him with one perfectly evolved : he is lust- 

 ful, and can cover, but is seldom fruitful. 

 Of the morbid consequences of castration 

 we have little to say : by early evacuations, 

 green food, a loose box, a cool air, moderate 

 clothing, but particularly by walking exer- 

 cise, swellings of the parts may be prevent- 

 ed : if not, bleed and foment ; should sup- 

 puration follow, and sinuses form, treat as 

 directed under those heads ; and if tetanic 

 symptoms start up, refer to that article. 

 There has been lately practised in India a 

 novel mode of castration, which is said to be 

 the invention of a Boer settled at the Cape 

 of Good Hope. The cord is exposed in the 

 usual manner ; from the cord the artery is 

 singled out ; this vessel is scraped through 

 with a coarse-edged blunt knife, when the 

 other constitutents of the cord are cut away, 

 and the operation is finished. This method 

 is much praised by those who have adopted 

 it, and is said to be always attended with 

 success. 



^'■Lithotomy. — Hurtrel d'Arboval's ac- 

 count of the progress of lithotomy in veteri- 

 nary practice commences in 1774. The 

 second case was successfully operated on in 

 1794 ; and at later periods other veterinary 

 surgeons have also performed it. ' In mo- 

 nodactyles there are two methods of oper- 

 ating for the stone ; one through the rectum, 

 the other through the bladder. The first, 

 which consists in lying open the bladder by 

 a longtitudinal incision made through the 



