CASTRATION. 565 



particularly in the case of an adult or aged horse — to try to 

 recover the end of the cord, and submit it afresh to cau- 

 terization. In the event of hemorrhage after the colt has 

 risen, it is the practice, in some parts of the country, 

 among gelders, to whip the bleeding parts with a bunch of 

 stinging-nettles. 



The objections urged against cauterization are — 1st, That 

 it is apt to induce afterwards, violent inflammation and its 

 consequences ; 2dly, That there is risk of secondary hemor- 

 rhage at the period of separation of the eschar. The best 

 replies to which objections are, that cauterization can be 

 shown to be — in colts at least — as generally successful as 

 any other of the methods of operating in practice ; and that, 

 as for fatal secondary hemorrhage, it is a thing un-heard of. 



The after-treatment to be pursued must very much 

 depend upon circumstances. Supposing the colt to be at 

 grass at the time of being castrated, and the weather to be 

 neither cold nor wet, and there be no flies abroad, he had 

 better be turned out again after the operation : nothing 

 farther in general being required than cleansing the parts 

 now and then from any discharges; and taking care that 

 the wounds be kept from healing by the first intention, by 

 the introduction of the finger into them, should it be required, 

 on the second or third day following the operation ; else, when 

 suppuration comes on, should the matter be pent up, abscess 

 and a good deal of concomitant swelling will be the conse- 

 quences. For a horse standing in a stable at the time of being 

 cut, a loose box is the best situation after the operation. Even 

 in this case, however, if the weather prove fine, and there happen 

 to be a small paddock adjoining, allowing him to take his liberty, 

 even from the day following the operation, will prove beneficial : 

 for, with the view of promoting suppuration and discharge 

 from the parts, and of so abating swelling, exercise is found 

 to be of all things the most beneficial, of which no horse 

 I will take sufficient of himself in a box, while in a stall he 

 can take none : it is therefore, under such circ^imstauces, a 

 good practice in general to have our patient led out in hand, 

 at a lounging walk, twice or thrice in the course of the day. 



