202. OPERATIVE TECHNIQUE. 



passage of semen then ceased but sexual desire remained as before 

 until by a second operation the testicle was removed. 



II. Castration by Removal of tJic Testicles. 



At the present time the commonest method of castrating horses, 

 bulls, and carnivorous animals is by removing the testicles. The 

 testicles are removed either alone or with portions of the scrotum, 

 though the latter method is onl}- usual in calves and goats, where a 

 ligature is passed round the neck of the scrotum. A running noose is 

 formed in a strong piece of cord, slipped round the upper part of the 

 scrotum and drawn tight. Provided it be drawn sufficiently tight in 

 the first instance the scrotum and its contents fall away in from eight 

 to fourteen days, otherwise the loop must again be tightened. Wooden 

 or iron clams have been used to replace the ligature. Both methods 

 inflict needless pain and are seldom used except in calves, which, 

 however, also suffer much more from clams or ligatures than from the 

 more surgical method of opening the scrotum. Piot claims to have 

 castrated two thousand bulls in Egypt without loss by using the elastic 

 ligature, which is also valuable in the case of goats. The operation is 

 easy and rapid and in\'olves no loss of blood. The elastic cord is 

 applied in a stretched condition, the ends are tied, and the testicles cut 

 away about an inch below the ligature. Care must be taken to 

 prevent the animals licking or gnawing the ligature which might thus 

 be torn away. 



Castration by removal of the testicles is accompanied by various 

 dangers, which must be carefulty kept in mind when operating. They 

 are : 



1. Haemorrhage from the spermatic ^•essels, which under certain 

 circumstances may prove fatal. 



2. Infective inflammation of the spermatic cord, which almost 

 always follows opening of the scrotum and may extend to the 

 peritoneum, causing fatal peritonitis. Owing to uncontrollable cir- 

 cumstances aseptic healing is seldom possible, and therefore specific 

 infection, i. c. infection with septic organisms, is not always avoidable, 

 though proper precautions in regard to cleanliness and dramage usually 

 prevent it. 



3. In those forms of operation in which the tunica vaginalis is 

 opened, some danger of prolapse of bowel or omentum always exists. 

 As a rule, however, such an accident only occurs when the inner 

 abdominal ring is unusuall}' dilated, or when inguinal hernia exists, for 



