568 DISEASES OE THE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



and adjusts them upon the cord as high up or close to the 

 belly as he possibly can : it being most desirable to fi^ them 

 completely above the epididymis ; since, should any portion 

 of that body become included in the compression, not only 

 will much additional pain result, but it will be very likely 

 to be followed by champignon. Care must also be taken, 

 by keeping the cord spread out, that every part is uniformly 

 subjected to pressure at the time that the assistant squeezes 

 the ends together with the clam-pincers.^ This done, the 

 operator himself takes the pincers in his (right) hand — leaving 

 now his hold of the testicle — and maintains them closed 

 (locked, if he likes), while his assistant secures the clams 

 witli a waxed ligature. The other, or uppermost testicle 

 and cord, are now dealt with after the same manner, and 

 the operation is concluded. The common gelders in France 

 are in the habit of cutting off the testicles after putting on 

 the clams, leaving only sufficient of the epididymes remaining 

 to prevent the cord from slipping through the clams ; wliile 

 those who practise this mode of castrating in our own country, 

 leave the testicles on until the time arrive to remove the 

 clams ; which some do at the expiration of twenty-four, others 

 of forty-eight hours : but D'Arboval recommends that the 

 clams continue on until the testicles spontaneously slough 

 away, which they will do about the fifth day afterwards. 

 The removal of the testicles at the time of the operation,^ 

 or within one day afterwards, sometimes even after two have 

 elapsed, is usually followed by hemorrhage, which, though 

 it may be nowise dangerous, is liable to prove troublesome. 

 Another objection to the early abscission of the testes is, 

 that the cremaster, losing the counterpoise of their depen- 



on the dams. Let the operator by no meaus take his scalpel, and attempt Jby 

 cutting to relax the cord. I did this in Col. P — 's brown stallion, aged, and 

 much regretted it afterwards, in consequence of the great length of cord after- 

 wards manifested such as to require a second operation — one of ligature. 



1 The vas deferens is not to be divided, as is recommended to be done in the 

 operation by cauterization. Of itself, the vascular portion of the cord is found 

 incapable of supporting the weight of the pendent testicles. 



- Should the testicles be cut off, the epididymes, I repeat, will be required to 

 be left remaining, to serve as a stay against the too forcible contractions of the 

 cremaster. 



