316 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OP 



I lately castrated two horses, at the respective ages of twelve 

 and seventeen years, and they have both done well; yet, if they 

 had been '"^prepared,' as the hooks recommend, I might have 

 lost both animals ; and I verily believe that the once popular 

 method of physicking* — prostrating — animals before castra- 

 tion, has been the cause of many unnecessary deaths. 



In castrating bullocks, I apply a ligature around the whole 

 cord, for it is not always safe to merely ligature the spermatic 

 artery, as the reader will perceive by reading the following 

 paragraph. 



Herring has observed, that, after tying the spermatic artery, 

 without difficulty, in two places, and cutting between them, the 

 spermatic cord being then cut across two inches below, arterial 

 hemorrhage sometimes ensued. It is easy to account for blood 

 flowing through the spermatic veins, after this operation, by a 

 retrograde circulation in the wide vessels ; but, as regards the 

 arterial hemorrhage, Herring was in doubt, until, after several 

 injections of the spermatic cord, he found that the spermatic ar- 

 tery often divides into two nearly equal branches ; if but one be 

 tied, on removing the testicles, the other division bleeds. Her- 

 ring afterward injected several testicles and spermatic cords of 

 bulls, and found an extraordinarily rich net-work of veins, which 

 differs in many points from the pampiniform plexus of the 

 spermatic cord, in man, horse, dog, etc. In the spermatic cord 

 of the horse, we observe the artery making a large number of 

 curves on itself, until it reaches the testicle ; and from the latter 

 organ arise numerous veins, which coil upwards, but now join 

 in several branches which pass up with the artery, anastomosing 

 at intervals, and forming a net-work, the meshes of which are 

 ill the shape of parallelograms. In the bull, on the contrary, 

 the veins are exceedingly numerous, and spin round the artery 

 like the tendrils of a climbing plant round a wire ; and this is 

 Keen high up in the abdomen ; so that, in successful injections, 

 the spermatic artery is completely hidden. 



Some persons may object to the plan of applying a ligature 

 around the whole cord, and Youatt speaks of it as a cruel 

 operation. I cannot conceive how there can be any more 



