226 VENTRAL OPERATION ON CRYPTORCHIDS. 



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 had seen similar cases in his extensive practice, to 

 hydrocele of the spermatic cord. Degive scratches the hydrocele 

 with the finger-nail until it discharges into the abdominal cavity, 

 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 hypertrophy. 



The ventral operation can be performed either through the flank 

 or the lower wall of the abdomen. Both methods have been recom- 

 mended, but neither is now much practised. 



The horse having been cast and placed on its back, the seat of 

 operation is thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. Giinther, who 

 adopted the low operation, made a longitudinal incision of about 

 four to five inches, commencing opposite the free extremity of the 

 sheath and 2 to 2J inches distant from it and passing backwards. 

 This incision exposed the yellow elastic abdominal tunic, which was 

 next incised until the rectus abdominis muscle came in view. The 

 rectus abdominis was partly cut and partly torn through as far as 

 the tendon of the trans versalis abdominis, the fibres of which were 

 divided ; the peritoneum, thus exposed, was penetrated with a 

 sharp thrust with the forefinger. By inserting and spreading out 

 the other ringers the opening in the transverse muscle was sufficiently 

 enlarged in the direction of the muscular fibres to permit of the hand 

 entering easily. 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 suture in the yellow elastic abdominal tunic and becoming 



