CASTRATION. 495 



quantity of water, immediately before being operated upon. 

 Some operate upon the anim.al whilst allowing him to 

 retain the standing position. This method, while slightly 

 inconvenient, is by no means difficult, neither is it attended 

 with much danger, as the animal almost invariably submits, 

 and ceases all opposition on feeling the knife pass into the 

 testicle. But the operation thus performed is highly ob- 

 jectionable, for the following reasons. Some animals will 

 not allow the parts to be handled at all, and the operator, 

 whilst endeavouring to get hold of a testicle, may be 

 kicked and sustain a serious injurj^ Again, hernia may 

 be present, and on opening the scrotum the bowel may 

 be wounded, or descend to the ground and be trampled 

 upon, and the death of the animal thereby caused. In any 

 case, if hernia be present and the bowel escapes injury, it 

 becomes necessary to cast the animal at once, for the 

 purpose of reducing the hernia. There are also some other 

 minor reasons why the animal should be cast before being 

 operated upon, that need not be discussed here. The only 

 argument that can be employed in defence of the perform- 

 ance of the operation upon an animal without casting him 

 is that he may sustain injurj^ while being cast; but such an 

 argument may justly be regarded as a very weak one, when 

 it is taken into consideration that with proper precautions, 

 etc., injury is a very rare occurrence indeed, probably 

 not occurring more than once in a thousand times. Even if 

 injury to the animal occurred with far greater frecpiency 

 than it does, it would still be better to cast them for the 

 operation, as an occasional broken back or sprained muscle 

 in a horse are undoubtedly matters of far less importance 

 than similar injuries to the person operating. There are 

 various ways of casting and securing the animal, each 

 method probably possessing some individual advantage 

 over the others. It would be impossible to explain the 



