CASTRATION. 



441 



is made, with thick layers of vulcanized india-rubber. This ma- 

 terial gives a very firm hold without bruising the cord, and causing 

 thereby inflammation A large scalpel and a couple of irons will 

 complete the list of instruments, over and above the apparatus 

 necessary for casting the horse (see Casting, page 433). The horse 

 being properly secured according to the directions there given, and 

 a twitch being put on the lip in case he should struggle much, the 



Fig. 23. — clams lined with vulcanized india-rubber. 



operator, kneeling on the left side, grasps the testicle so as to make 

 the skin of the scrotum covering it quite tense. A longitudinal 

 incision, about three inches long, is then made down to the testicle, 

 which, if care has been taken that there is no rupture, may be 

 rapidly done — a wound of its surface not being of the slightest con- 

 sequence, and giving far less pain than the slow niggling dissection 

 of its coverings, which is sometimes practised to avoid it. The 

 testicle can now be cleared of its coverings, and the hand laying 

 hold of it gently, the operator raises it from its bed, and slips the 

 clams on each side the cord, at once making the proper pressure 

 with them, which should be sufficient to prevent all risk of the 

 part enclosed slipping from between its jaws. G-reat care should 

 be taken that the whole of the testicle, including the epididimis, 

 is external to the clams ; and as soon as this is satisfactorily ascer- 

 tained, the cord may be divided with the ordinary firing-iron at a 

 red heat. To make sure that no haemorrhage shall occur, some 

 operators sear the artery separately with a pointed iron ; but if the 

 division is slowly made with the heated iron, and avoiding any 

 drag upon the cord, no such accident will be at all likely to follow, 

 though very rarely it will happen in spite of every care. The 

 clams may now be removed, and the other testicle treated in the 

 same way; after which the hobbles are cautiously removed, and the 

 patient is placed in a roomy loose box, where he can take sufficient 

 exercise to insure the gravitation of the discharge, but no more. 



The French Plan, by means of caustic, requires two pieces 

 of wood, each about six inches long and an inch square, with a 

 notch or ileck at each end, to hold the twine by which they are 

 tied together, and a groove in the two opposite surfaces, to hold 

 the caustic. This is composed of one part of corrosive sublimate 

 and four of flour, made into a past? with water, and it is intro- 



