PRACTICAL CRYPTORCHID CASTRATION 51 



Traversing the Inguinal Canal.— The oper- 

 ator places himself so that he is facing the field 

 of operation and uses the right hand if it is the 

 left testicle that is retained and vice versa. The 

 hand used is inserted through the scrotal incision 

 and through the external inguinal ring into the 

 inguinal canal. The fingers of the hand should 

 be bunched and directed toward the internal in- 

 guinal ring, to which they are gradually forced, 

 separating the muscular belly of the internal ob- 

 lique muscle, which lies on the palm or side of 

 the hand, from the aponeurosis of the external 

 oblique muscle and Poupart's ligament which lies 

 on the back of the hand. While the introduc- 

 tion of the hand through the external ring and 

 into the canal is always an easy matter, the pass- 

 ing of the hand up the canal in the proper direc- 

 tion and the locating of the internal ring is, to the 

 uninitiated, usually attended with more or less 

 difiiculty. The direction to go is deep into the 

 fold of the groin, keeping back against Poupart's 

 ligament and the thigh muscles. 



Most beginners, I have found, have trouble in 

 locating the internal ring because of two chief 



