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CAS7 /NATION OF CRYPTORCHID HORSES. 



ring and drawing them apart separate the tissues 

 sufficiently to permit the entrance of the hand. With the 

 fingers held in the shape of a cone bore a passage in the 

 areolar tissue through the external abdominal ring and con- 

 tinue in a direction approximately toward the external 

 angle of the ilium until the aponerosis of the small oblique 

 muscle near the crural arch is reached. Unless rectal ex- 

 ploration has shown that the testicleis within the abdomen, 

 take care in traversing the inguinal space between the ex- 

 ternal and internal rings that the gland is not passed by 

 unrecognized (inguinal cryptorchidy) lying in this region 

 covered by peritoneum and the cremasteric fascia. Some- 

 times the epididymis has descended to the scrotal region 

 while the testicle remains within the abdomen, thus result- 

 ing in a long, narrow inguinal canal. 



Pass the hand upwards, outwards and forwards along the 

 aponeurosis of the small oblique until the crural arch is 

 reached slightly anterior to the crural ring in which the 

 pulsating femoral artery can be felt, and palpate at this point 

 in the muscular wall for the internal inguinal ring which 

 varies greatly in different individuals but usually reveals 

 itself to the fingers as an oblong slit or ring about one inch 

 in length covered only by peritoneum. Through this usually 

 extends a portion of the gubernaculum testis or of the vas 

 deferens. 



Examing Plate XXI, the peritoneal view of the internal 

 ring is shown crossed by the dotted line, V, of the upper or 

 right testicle, into which extends a short distance the tail 

 of the epididymis. In the lower or left testicle the ring 

 has been opened and the gland lies in a position correspond- 

 ing to the right and showing the epididymis and vas defer- 

 ens lying in the processus vaginalis, P. The surgical rela- 

 tion of the parts is further illustrated in Plate XXII, where 

 the testicle is completel}^ withdrawn into the peritoneal 

 cavity and spread out over the right flank. The processus 



