346 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



these cases the treatment indicated above, and especially 

 the scarifications, will prove a useful preliminary resort. 

 The use of astringent lotions is always desirable, and in case 

 of the protruded penis the application of an elastic or simple 

 linen bandage, so as to press out the blood and accumulated 

 fluid, will enable the operator to return it. 



TUMORS ON THE SPERMATIC CORD. 



These are due to rough handling or dragging upon the 

 cord in castration, to strangulation of unduly long cords in 

 the external wound, to adhesion of the end of the cord to the 

 skin, to inflammation of the cord succeeding exposure to cold 

 or wet, or to the presence of septic or irritant matters. 

 These tumors give rise to a stiff, straddling gait, and may be 

 felt as hard masses in the groin connected above with the 

 cord. They may continue to grow slowly for many years 

 until they reach a weight of fifteen to twenty pounds and 

 contract adhesions to all surrounding parts. If disconnected 

 from the skin and inguinal canal they may be removed in 

 the same manner as the testicle, while if larger and firmly 

 adherent to the skin and surrounding parts generally they 

 must be carefully dissected from the parts, the arteries be- 

 ing tied as they are reached and the cord finally torn through 

 with an ecraseur. When the cord has become swollen and 

 indurated up into the abdomen such removal is impossible, 

 though a partial destruction of the mass may still be at- 

 tempted by passing white-hot pointed irons upward toward 

 the inguinal ring in the center of the thickened and indu- 

 rated cord. 



CASTRATION OF THE MARE. 



Castration is a much more dangerous operation in the 

 mare than in the females of other domesticated quadrupeds, 

 and should never be resorted to except in animals that be- 

 come unmanageable on the recurrence of heat and that will 

 not breed, or that are utterly unsuited to breeding. For- 

 merly the operation was extensively practiced in Europe, the 

 incision being made through the flank and a large proportion 

 of the subjects perishing. By operating through the vagina 



