250 OPERATIVE TECHNIQUE. 



direction of the muscular fibres to permit of the hand entering easil}'. 

 The paralysing effect on the arm, due to muscular contraction, which 

 proves so troublesome in certain other methods, was thus prevented. 



Should difficulty be experienced in finding the testicle Giinther 

 advised passing the hand towards the bladder, discovering the vas 

 deferens, and following it up to its point of origin in the testicle. 

 Another method consists in finding the spermatic artery at its point 

 of origin, and tracing it as far as the testicle. 



Giinther strongly recommended this mode of operation, but later 

 authorities by no means support him. Frohner condemns it entirely. 

 He. lost two out of four horses operated on : one died in consequence 

 of the stump of the spermatic cord protruding between the widely 

 spaced sutures in the yellow elastic abdominal tunic and becoming 

 infected, thus setting up fatal peritonitis. In the second case the 

 elastic tunic and the skin were very carefully sutured, notwithstanding 

 which a prolapse of bowel occurred on the fourth day. The bowel 

 was thoroughly disinfected and returned, but septic peritonitis occurred 

 and proved fatal. In the next two cases Frohner sutured each layer 

 of tissue separately, firstly the peritoneum, then the rectus abdominis, 

 then the yellow elastic tunic, and finally the skin. Both cases did 

 well. Frohner, however, draws attention to the inconvenience and 

 difficulty of the procedure. Bayer has twice successfully operated by 

 this method. 



Castration of Female Animals (Oophorectomy). 



The castration of female animals, consisting in removal of the 

 ovaries, is less frequently performed than the corresponding operation 

 in the male. It is said to have certain valuable economic results ; thus 

 young pigs and cows are thought to fatten more satisfactorily after- 

 wards, and milch cows to remain longer in milk ; bitches are castrated 

 to prevent their breeding, and to avoid the unpleasantness associated 

 with their coming on heat. Sows and cows are the most common 

 subjects of operation, and for this reason will first be considered. 



I. Cows not only fatten better, but their milking period is con- 

 siderably prolonged after castration. As earl}- as 1850 Charlier 

 recommended castrating cows thirty to forty days after the birth of the 

 second or third calf, following which the yield of milk was said to- 

 remain steady as at the time of castration. Although this expectation 

 has not been entirely fulfilled, cows are still castrated in order to 

 prolong their milk-yielding period, and to increase their capacity for 

 fattening. The operation has been sporadically revived and again 



