580 DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



ligature (one died) ; and six by torsion, altogether 290 ; and 

 besides my own regiment about twenty in tlie Artillery, on 

 my ^ scraping method,^ and every case successful. Messrs. 

 Crundall, Crowley, and Field (gentlemen who have been 

 doing duty with nie) can all perform tlie operation equally 

 as well as myself, and are dehghted wdth its simplicity and 

 cleanliness ; for you need hardly soil your fingers. I think 

 gelding must be a safer business in India than at home ; for 

 our old horses do quite as well as the young. I have cut 

 some eighteen years of age, thirteen of which have been 

 passed in hard regimental duty. Of the 300 above alluded 

 to, most were aged : thirty-six averaged sixteen years, and 

 all of these did well. It may be in place here to say, that 

 in one or two cases the dropping of blood increased, and 1 

 found it necessary to introduce small pieces of tow up the 

 scrotum as the horse stood. I fear you will consider me too 

 prolix, and somewhat egotistical, when I tell you, that I 

 have been honoured with the approbation of the Commander- 

 in-Chief, for — to use his Excellency's language — ' the ability 

 and care evinced in carrying out the important duty that 

 devolved upon me.^ This is flattering ; but I attribute my 

 success entirely to the system I adopted ; and feel convinced, 

 taking into consideration the age of my patients, heat of 

 climate, and many other circumstances, that the old plan 

 would, in numerous instances, have been attended with fatal 

 results." 



Anormal Appearances during Castration now and 

 then, not often, present themselves. When they do, it is 

 generally in adult or old subjects, and in such as have been 

 in training, or have raced or hunted. Against them the 

 castrator must be prepared to act at the moment of their 

 occurrence, there being little time then for consideration, 

 and no excuse for being — what he never ought to be — taken 

 by surprise. The first unusual appearance — and very unu- 

 sual, unless in aged stone-horses, I believe it to be — is, 

 adhesion' betiveen the vaginal and albugineovs tunics, the 

 common situation for which is the infero-posterior part of 

 the testicle. Should the adhesion be recent, the tunics will 



