238 



CASTRATION. 



Hering castrated six two-year-old sheep from the flank for the 

 purpose of discovering whether the yield of wool would prove greater 

 after operation. In two only the left ovary could be reached. The 

 operation was well borne, though it failed in its object. The animals 

 fattened earlier than their fellows. 



(c) Mares are castrated for nymphomania associated with vicious- 

 ness, and unilateral castration, removal of the cystic ovary, is 

 sometimes performed in mares which are barren in consequence of 

 ovarian disease. 



Cadiot has frequently practised this operation, and on the whole 

 has had good results, although in some cases the object, viz. to render 



Fig. 2C>7. — Ovariotomy with the ecraseur (Cadiot's method). 



animals quieter and more tractable, has not been attained, a point 

 to which Harms and Thomassen had previously directed attention. 

 In mares, however, castration is always more difficult and more 

 hazardous than in cows. 



The principal danger consists in the well-known sensitiveness of 

 the horse's peritoneum. The difficulties consist partly in the fact 

 that irritable and well-bred animals can seldom be operated on in 

 the standing position, this only being possible, as a rule, in coarse- 

 bred horses, which can be restrained in a trevis. Furthermore, in 

 the mare the ovaries are much further removed from the vulva, 

 and the ovarian ligament is shorter than in the cow, so that it is 

 impossible to draw the ovaries into the vagina, in order to effect 

 torsion. The operator therefore has to introduce both the hand 



