CASTRATION. 427 



A few, but their practice cannot be justified, seize the testicle as 

 soon as it escapes from the bag, and, pulling violently, break the 

 cord and tear it out. It is certain that when a blood-vessel is thus 

 ruptured, it forcibly contracts, and very little bleeding follows ; but 

 if tlie cord breaks high up and retracts into the belly, considerable 

 inflammation has occasionally ensued, and the beast lias been lost. 



The application of torsion, or the twisting of the arteries by means 

 of a pair of forceps which will firmly grasp them, promises to su- 

 persede every other mode of castration, both in the larger and the 

 smaller domesticated animals. The spermatic artery is exposed, and 

 seized with the forceps, which are then closed by a very simple me- 

 chanical contrivance ; the vessel is drawn a little out from its sur- 

 rounding tissue, the forceps are turned round seven or eight times, 

 and the vessel liberated. It will be found perfectly closed ; a small 

 knot will have formed on its extremity ; it will retract into the sur- 

 rounding substance, and not a drop more of blood will flow from it : 

 the cord may then be divided, and the bleeding from any little 

 vessel arrested in the same way. Neither the application of the hot 

 iron nor of the wooden clamps, whether with or without caustic, can 

 be necessary in the castration of the calf. 



Homoeopathic treatment. — After the operation, give some doses of 

 arnica, -ind wash the parts with arnica water. 



