94 SPRING-TIME SURGERY 



The value of the animal is so slight that 

 unless there is a considerable number of these 

 "ruptured" pigs in the same brood or there be a 

 very large number of hogs raised upon the place, 

 this work can never amount to much from the 

 veterinarian's point of view, but frequently when 

 he is called to a farm for other work he is asked 

 to castrate one or two or three of these pigs. 



There is scarcely an operation that is more 

 simple than this one and yet it is one with which 

 some veterinarians have experienced a great 

 deal of difficulty, because of faulty technic. To 

 throw the animal, hold him on his side and at- 

 tempt to castrate him, as is done in ordinary cas- 

 tration is to bring on such forcible extrusion of 

 the intestines that no operator can successfully 

 accomplish the castration, but if the pig be held 

 up by his hind legs with his back to the holder 

 and with his forefeet just touching the ground 

 and possibly his neck between the ankles of the 

 man holding him the intestines will of their own 

 accord, or can readily be made to, return to the 

 abdominal cavity and while held in this position 

 castration is an exceedingly simple operation. 



