•2-2+ CRYPTOROHID CASTRATION. 



attempts may first be made to return it by passing the hand into 

 the rectum and exercising traction, but if the intestine has been 

 long exposed the horse should be cast, the gut well disinfected 

 and carefully replaced. Bang sutures the muscular wall of the 

 abdomen or the peritoneum. 



Peritonitis, when following this operation, is usually rapidly fatal, 

 though occasionally it takes a chronic course of several weeks before 

 death supervenes. Exceptionally a fatal result may arise from 

 haemorrhage from the cord, which after section recedes and bleeds 

 within the abdomen. 



In perforating the abdominal wall Moller, like Bang, prefers 

 making the puncture through the internal oblique abdominal muscle 

 at the inner wall of the inguinal canal, somewhat nearer the median 

 line than the internal abdominal ring. This produces a " button- 

 hole wound," which does not gape, but, on the contrary, soon comes 

 together again and prevents prolapse of the bowel. A vigorous 

 thrust with the index and middle fingers during inspiration carries 

 them through the abdominal wall into the peritoneal cavity. 

 Different animals, however, present great differences in this respect ; 

 in some perforation is easy, in others it requires considerable force. 



Finding the testicle or spermatic cord is always the most 

 difficult part of the operation for the unpractised ; nevertheless it 

 can generally be effected with the first two fingers, and without 

 introducing the entire hand. The testicle may easily be mistaken 

 for an empty loop of bowel, but is distinguished by its sharper outline 

 and greater firmness. The end of the epididymis is recognised as a 

 soft mass, containing harder, firmer cords. The spermatic duct can 

 be felt as a hard cord, and is very useful for discovering and 

 drawing forward the testicle, for its size and hardness render it easily 

 recognised. It can, moreover, be brought forward with much less 

 difficulty than the testicle itself, which, when grasped and pulled 

 on, may cause struggling. The object to seek, then, is a very small 

 body, possessing a hard, string-like cord (spermatic cord). By gently 

 pulling on it the testicle is drawn through the opening, though in 

 exceptional cases the testicle may be so large as to offer considerable 

 resistance. 



Occasionally the testicle cannot be found. Even so skilled an 

 operator as Degive failed in four instances ; Sand relates two, Bayer 

 one or more. Should it prove impossible to withdraw the testicle 

 Degive advises division of the spermatic cord, allowing the testicle to 

 fall back into the abdomen. When the enlargement is cystic Degive 

 brings the testicle near the inguinal ring, thrusts a fine trocar through 



