TORSION AND LIGATION OF SPERMATIC CORD. 201 



point of exit, then through the scrotum on the outer side of the 

 spermatic cord, and lastly through the point of entry. The thread 

 thus forms a loop surrounding the spermatic cord. The two ends are 

 tightly tied together, the loose portions snipped off close above the 

 knot, and the ligature allowed to pass into the scrotum ; the little 

 puncture is painted with iodoform collodion. The other spermatic 

 cord is treated in precisely the same way. Provided proper care be 

 taken regarding antisepsis neither inflammation nor suppuration occur 

 and the animal seems to suffer comparatively little. The testicles 

 swell somewhat during the next few days, but atrophy commences m 

 from three to four weeks and the glands gradually and almost com- 

 pletely disappear. Moller states that ligation is followed by necrosis 

 as he ascertained by experiment. To avoid the use of two needles 

 Schmey invented a needle with the eye near the point and a screw- 

 joint in the centre of the shank. The silk thread was passed as usual 

 on the inner side of the cord, after which the two portions of the needle, 

 enclosed within the scrotum, were unscrewed, the spermatic cord 

 pushed between them, and the needle again united and withdrawn. 

 Failing this needle or even a sharp and a blunt needle, the ligature 

 may be returned by using the blunt end of an ordinary needle, i. e. by 

 simply using the needle reversed during the second portion of the 

 operation. Asepsis is not difficult of attainment if properly sterilised 

 silk be used. Goats being rather prone to complications after ordinary 

 castration, with incision of the scrotum, this method deserves con- 

 sideration. The ligatures must, however, be drawn very tight, 

 otherwise the operation fails and the activity of the glands still 

 continues. 



In operating on bulls the hind limb on the side selected should be 

 drawn forward so that the operator, by kneeling down, can grasp the 

 neck of the scrotum. The operation is otherwise similar to that above 

 described. 



Dentler recommends subcutaneous, or better still intrascrotal, 

 section of the spermatic cord for calves and goats, but the method 

 has not been well received by most practitioners on account of 

 the danger of bleeding, suppuration, and other troublesome com- 

 plications. 



That sexual impulse is not removed by ligation of the vas deferens 

 alone is shown by the following experiment. One sometimes finds 

 cryptorchids in which the epididymis lies in the inguinal canal while the 

 testicle itself is in the abdomen. In one such case ^loller ligatured 

 and snipped off the epididymis without removing the testicle. The 



