154 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



They may not have come down well. If there is any 

 prospect of a difficulty in retaining them in the grasp, 

 he should pull them down as low as he can without 

 violence, and place a pair of clams above them. 



He grasps the testicle, pushes it to the bottom of the 

 bag, and then makes the bag tight over it ; then with 

 one incision, from before backwards, he cuts along the 

 whole extent of the lower edge of the testicle ; he cuts 

 through the scrotum, the dartos muscle, and the tunica 

 vaginalis, and the testicle slips out. Some make the 

 incision with a red-hot firing iron, but this is unneces- 

 sarily painful, and the wound will not heal so soon. 

 There may be some cases in which it heals too soon, 

 while matter is in the scrotum ; but these cases are rare. 



The operator must now seize the testicle, hold il 

 steadily, not draw it violently, humoring the struggles 

 of the animal, and when he is still, draw it out a little 

 further, and place the clams upon the cord, havmg first 

 wound a little tow around them. The vas deferens, 

 which is continued from the lower part of the testicle, 

 should be divided, which will save the colt much un 

 necessary pain. 



He then settles in his mind where he will divide the^ 

 cord, so as not to leave it so long as to protrude out of* 

 the scrotum, nor so short as to be difficult to seize in 

 case of bleeding. The clams are then closed, and fast- 

 ened sufficiently tight to stop the blood, but not so hard 

 as to bruise the cord. The cord is now divided. 



Some cut the cord with a knife, and sear the end to 

 prevent bleeding, but the difficulty is that bleeding will 

 sometimes occur after this precaution. The better way 

 is, to draw a firing iron, with a sharp edge, rapidly and 

 repeatedly, yet lightly, across the cord, and not wholly 

 in the same line, until it is divided. The vessels will 

 then be more securely closed, and bleeding will seldom 

 follow. The clams should be a little loosened to see if 

 bleeding is stopped. If only a little blood oozes out, 

 apply the firing iron again. This is a nice point, as the 

 application should be just sufficient to accomplish the 

 intended purpc >e ; for many of the colts that are lost die 

 of inflammation from needless severity in the appUca 

 tion of the hot iron. 



