CASTRATION. 563 



compression^ it is good practice to divide the vas deferens 

 with the scalpel, so as to liberate it from their grasp ; by 

 which not only will the animal be afterwards spared unne- 

 cessary pain, but the operator be enabled more effectually 

 to exert compression upon the blood-vessels. Before the 

 clams be finally closed and locked, the operator must deter- 

 mine on the place of section, for cauterization of the cord. 

 For this, no invariable rule can be given : if left too long, 

 it may hang out of the wound after the operation, prevent 

 union, and grow into champignon ; if cut too short, and there 

 should happen to be any secondary hemorrhage, it may 

 become a difficult matter to recover it again. The natural 

 length of the cord, though not the same in all subjects, 

 may be estimated, and this the moment relaxation has taken 

 place, must be his guide. Having in his eye marked the 

 place of division, the clams are to be closed and 

 compressed sufficiently to arrest the circulation of the 

 blood, and, at the same time, to retain the cord between 

 them without risk of its slipping through the moment 

 the testicle comes to be seared off: they may be locked or 

 not, as happens best to suit the convenience of the operator. 

 The firing-iron being handed to him, the operator is to 

 commence his cauterization through the posterior part of 

 the cord, in the situation of the spermatic artery, at the 

 distance of about three fourths of an inch from the surface 

 of the clams; dividing the artery first with the edge of 

 the cautery, and then searing its mouth with one corner of 

 the thick side or heel of the firing-iron, while at its greatest 

 heat.^ The spermatic artery being once scared up, the 

 remainder of the cord will simply require cutting througli 

 with the edge of the iron. Another mode of procedure — 

 more surgical than this and one that is growing in estima- 

 tion — is the division of the cord with the knife, and the 



' This is the practice of the French geldcrs. They divide the cord with a 

 bistoury, and then — instead of a firing-iron — apply a budding-iron to the moutlis 

 of the bleeding vessels only, but at a wliitc-hcat, so as to carbonize them : it 

 api)earing a matter of consequence, says D'Arboval, not to cauterize the tunica 

 vaginalis. 



