342 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



the operation are greatest in the young. The delay till two, 

 three or four years old will secure a better development and 

 carriage of the fore parts. The essential part of castration 

 is the safe removal or destruction of the testicle and the ar- 

 rest or prevention of bleeding from the spermatic artery 

 found in the anterior part of the cord. Into the many meth- 

 ods of accomplishing this limited space forbids us to enter 

 here, so that the method most commonly adopted, castration 

 by clamps, will alone be noticed. The animal having been 

 thrown on his left side and the right hind foot drawn up on 

 the shoulder, the exposed scrotum, penis and sheath are 

 washed with soap and water, any concretion of serum being 

 carefully removed from the bil ocular cavity in the end of the 

 penis. The left spermatic cord, just above the testicle, is 

 now seized in the left hand, so as to render the skin tense 

 over the stone, and the right hand, armed with the knife, 

 makes an incision from before backward, about three-fourths 

 of an inch from and parallel to the median line between the 

 thighs, deep enough to expose the testicle and long enough 

 to allow that organ to start out through the skin. At the 

 moment of making this incision the left hand must grasp 

 the cord very firmly, otherwise the sudden retraction of the 

 testicle by the cremaster muscle may draw it out of the 

 hand and upward through the canal and even into the ab- 

 domen. In a few seconds, when the struggle and retraction 

 have ceased, the knife is inserted through the cord, between 

 its anterior and posterior portions, and the latter, the one 

 which the muscle retracts, is cut completely through. The 

 testicle will now hang limp and there is no longer any ten- 

 dency to retraction. It should be pulled down until it will 

 no longer hang loose below the wound and the clamps ap- 

 plied around the still attached portion of the cord, close up 

 to the skin. The clamps, which may be made of any 

 tough wood, are grooved along the center of the surfaces 

 opposed to each other, thereby fulfilling two important indi- 

 cations, (a) enabling the clamps to hold more securely and 

 (6) providing for the application of an antiseptic to the cord. 

 For this purpose a drachm of sulphate of copper may be 

 ' mixed with an ounce of lard and pressed into the groove in 



