CASTRATION. 567 



crushing, or rather moulding, the empty thorax together ; 

 after which the rest of the hody will offer Uttle obstruction. 

 When the head cannot be got at, the Unibs must, one by 

 one, be detached : after which the body, and at last the 

 head, may be drawn out either entire, or lessened con- 

 siderably. 



CASTRATION. 



This practice is of very ancient origin ; and is as exten- 

 sive as ancient. It is founded on the superior placidity of 

 temper it gives. The castrated horse no longer evinces the 

 superiorities of his masculine character, but approaches the 

 softer form and milder character of the mare. Losing his 

 ungovernable desires, he submits to discipline and confine- 

 ment without resistance ; and if he be less worthy of the 

 painter's delineation and the poet's song, he is valuable to 

 his possessor in a tenfold degi'ce. In England, where length 

 in the arms and of the wide-spread angles of the limbs is 

 absolutely necessary in the horse to accomplish the rapid 

 travelling so much in vogue among us, the exchange of the 

 lofty carriage and high action of the stallion is absolutely 

 necessary ; and when we have added the lessened tendency 

 of the gelding to some diseases, as hernia, founder, cuta- 

 neous affections, &c., we may be content to leave the sexual 

 type with the racer for his breed ; also with the drayhorse 

 for his weight, and the fancy of his owner. Supposing it, 

 therefore, eligible to castrate our horses, what is the proper 

 age for the operation? What are the relative advantages 

 and disadvantages of the different methods of performing it ? 

 The proper age to castrate the young horse must depend on 

 circumstances ; as on his present appearance, his growth, 

 and the future purposes we intend him for ; observing, gene- 

 rally, that the more early it is done, the safer is the opera- 

 tion : for until these organs begin to secrete, they are purely 

 structural parts, and as such are not so intimately connected 

 with the sympathies of the constitution. It is otherwise 

 wdien they take on their functional office ; their vascularity 

 and volume is then greatly increased, and the system largely 

 sympathises with them. On the other hand, a removal 

 before the adult age has so much effect on the external 



