THE SHOULDER. 323 



sometimes even so early as a month, there is stronger objection. When the 

 operation of twitching is performed, a small cord is drawn as tightly as possible 

 round the bag, between the testicle and the belly. The circulation is thus 

 stopped, and, in a few days, the testicles and the bag drop off; but not until the 

 animal has sadly suffered. It is occasionally necessary to tighten the cord on 

 the second or third day, and inflammation and death have frequently ensued. 



Another mode of castration has been lately introduced which bids fair to 

 supersede every other : it is called the operation by Torsion. An incision is 

 made into the scrotum as in the other modes of operation, and the vas deferens 

 is exposed and divided. The artery is then seized by a pair of forceps contrived 

 for the purpose, and twisted six or seven times round. It retracts as soon as the 

 hold on it is quitted, the coils are not untwisted, and all bleeding has ceased. 

 The testicle is removed, and there is no sloughing or danger. The most painful 

 part of the operation — the application of the firing iron or the clams — is 

 avoided, and the wound readily heals. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

 THE FORE LEGS. 



We arrive now at those parts of the frame which are most essentially con- 

 nected with the action and value of the horse, and oftenest, and most annoyingly, 

 the subjects of disease. The extremities contain the whole apparatus of 

 voluntary motion, with which the action, and speed, and strength of the horse 

 are most concerned. 



We commence with the upper portion, of which the fore extremity, the 

 shoulder, is seen at G. page 108. 



THE SHOULDER. 



The scapula or shoulder-blade, situated forward on the side of the chest, is a 

 bone of a somewhat triangular shape, with its apex or narrowest point down- 

 ward, and its broad and thin expansion upward. The point of the shoulder 

 lies opposite to the first and second ribs; the hinder expansion of the base 

 reaches as far back as the seventh rib; it therefore extends obliquely along the 

 chest. It is divided, externally, into two unequal portions by a ridge or spine 

 running through almost the whole of its extent, and designed, as will be pre- 

 sently seen, for the attachment of important muscles. The broad or upper 

 part having no muscles of any consequence attached to it, is terminated by 

 cartilage. 



The shoulder-blade is united to the chest by muscle alone. There is one 

 large muscle, with very remarkable tendinous fibres and of immense strength 

 (the serratus major, greater saw-shaped muscle), attached to the chest, and to 

 the extensive smooth internal surface of the shoulder-blade, and by which, 

 assisted, or rather strengthened, by the muscles of the breast, the weight of the 

 body is supported, and the shock of- the widest leap, or the most rapid motion, 

 sustained. Had there been a bony union between the shoulder and the body, 

 the vital parts contained in the chest could not have endured the dreadful shock 

 which they would occasionally have experienced ; nor could any bone have long 

 remained whole if exposed to such violence. The muscles within the shoulder- 

 blade act as powerful and safe springs. They yield, as far as necessary, to the 

 force impressed upon them. By their gradual yielding they destroy the vio- 



