248 OPERATIVE TECHNIQUE. 



abdominal wall, draws off the fluid, and is then able to pull the col- 

 lapsed gland into the canal and remove it. Professor McQueen 

 ruptures dropsical cysts with the finger and thumb. 



If other means of finding the testicle fail, the disengaged hand can 

 be introduced into the rectum, and attempts made to force the testicle 

 through the opening ; but this should ba a last resort, on account 

 of the difficult}- of afterwards disinfecting the hand. Thus exposed, 

 the testicle is secured with a cord co\ered with cotton wool, the 

 hand which has been introduced into the rectum is at once cleansed 

 and thoroughl}- disinfected, and the operation proceeds as above 

 described. 



\Mien the spermatic cord is \'er\' short it renders ligation par- 

 ticularl}- difficult. Dtgi\e under such circumstances emplo}s the 

 ecraseur. 



In one case Moller was unable to find the testicle. He therefore 

 introduced the entire hand into the abdominal cavity (a proceeding 

 which is nuich less risk\- than is often supposed) and disco\'ered a 

 soft bod}- the size of two fists. This he at first took to be the urinar}' 

 bladder, which further examination showed, however, to be in its 

 normal position, whilst the soft bod\' la}- near the inner abdominal ring, 

 was movable, and carried at one end a firm object which resembled a 

 testicle. Convinced that he had to deal with a degenerated testicle, 

 he extended the opening in the skin and abdominal walls sufficiently 

 far to allow the testicle and spermatic cord to be ligatured. After 

 remo\ing the testicle and suturing both the skin and abdominal walls 

 with strong silk (interrupted sutures), reco^■er}• occurred without com- 

 plication. 



A closer examination showed that the testicle had almost entirel}- 

 disappeared, and a c\st containing sixteen ounces of serum, and having 

 a circumference of fourteen inches, had formed in the spermatic cord. 

 At the lower end of the cord lay a lipoma, about the size of a duck's 

 egg, and partly ossified. He was inclined to regard this tumour as the 

 degenerated testicle until his attention was directed by Degive, who 

 has repeatedly seen similar cases in his extensive practice, to h}-drocele 

 of the spermatic cord. Degive scratches the h}'drocele with the finger- 

 nail until it discharges into the abdominal ca\'it}', when the testicle 

 can easily be removed. 



Castration of cryptorchid boars is similar to that of horses, with the 

 one exception that a flank incision is preferable. Levens describes a 

 case where the castrator had removed the boar's kidney instead of the 

 testicle, as was discovered on slaughtering the animal. The other 

 kidney had undergone compensatory h3'pertrophy. 



