409 



Holding the Bistoury upon the Grooved Director. 



is to be used, a careful measurement of the amount of opening to 

 be allowed to the blade must first be made. Then, guided by the 

 side of the index finger, and with its blade turned outward, the 

 instrument is introduced into the sac. When it has reached the 

 proper point where the division is to be made, the blade is brought 

 out by pressing upon the peculiarly-contrived handle of the instru- 

 ment, and the division of the band of the neck is completed. 



After the division at the point of strangulation, the taxis is to 

 be used, both externally and by the rectum, carefully taking into 

 consideration the condition of the intestines in the appHcatiou of 

 the various manipulations required. 



Upon reduction of the hernia, obliteration of the sac is secured 

 by the application of a clamp, curved or straight, upon its parietal 

 layers, embracing between them the spermatic cord. In short, 

 the final steps of the operation will be precisely those by which 

 the operation of castration with covered testicles is completed. 



This methed of closing the vaginal sac is the best, the simplest 

 and the most certain in its results. It is true that the objection 

 that it imphes castration is a weighty one, but the mutilation 

 which it involves is a condition of radical recovery which cannot 

 be obtained by any other means. The attempts which are made 

 to save the testicles, which are justifiable only in the case of very 

 valuable animals used for breeding purposes, are nearly always 

 followed by fatal results. 



Among these may be mentioned the process by which, in- 

 stead of leaving the testicle to drop under the efi"ect of the 

 pressure of the clamp, it is left inclosed in the vaginal sac, whose 

 divided edges are brought together by sutures. 



Schmidt has attempted to push it back into the abdomen ; but 

 such methods have been followed by fatal peritonitis. Bouley has 



