570 DISEASES OE THE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



may bleed as well : nothing will sooner allay any canse we 

 may have for alarm than abstraction of blood. While 

 everything is going on well, nothing farther will be required 

 beyond exercise, and keeping the parts clean by fomentation ; 

 with, perhaps, an occasional enema. In fine, he will require 

 watching up to the tenth or twelfth day, after which the 

 patient may be regarded as out of danger. 



The Removal of the Clams, unless tumefaction of the 

 parts demand it earlier, had better be deferred until the 

 second or third day, by which time the testicles, should they 

 not already have been cut off, will be quite dead, and the cords, 

 when they come to be cut through, will resemble so much 

 dried bladder : if the clams be removed before the cords and 

 testicles begin to assume the dried shrivelled aspect (which 

 is evidence of their complete mortification), secondary hemor- 

 rhage is liable to ensue. In fact, the condition of the 

 testicles must be our guide : in some cases twenty-four or 

 forty-eight hours being sufiicient ; in others — from the com- 

 pression probably being incomplete — double that time will 

 be required. In all cases, they will need to remain on much 

 longer after the covered than after the uncovered operation. 

 In taking them off, there is a knack of procedure which it 

 may be as well to follow. The horse being twitched, and 

 his fore leg held up, the operator places himself by the side of 

 the near quarter of the patient, and with his left hand grasps 

 the tail, upon which he balances himself while he stoops to 

 carry his right hand, with a knife in it, between the animal's 

 thighs, behind, in order to rest his thumb upon the posterior 

 ends of the clams, while with the knife, clenched between his 

 fingers, he cuts through the ligature holding them together. 

 This done, the knife is laid down and the clams forced apart 

 with one or both hands ; for sometimes, in consequence l?f 

 their being clogged with adhesive matters that have run 

 from the wound, there is difficulty in separating them. 

 Afterwards, the parts had better be bathed with warm water, 

 if it merely be for the sake of cleansing them. 



Castration by Ligature has for many years been aban- 

 doned by the generality of practitioners. The late Pro- 



