240 



VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



INSTRUMENTS, ETC.— The complete outfit required 

 to perform the operation and to meet every untoward exi- 

 gency should include 



I. A special castrating scalpel. 

 An emasculator. 

 An ecraseur. 



A pair of wooden clamps. 

 Strong braided silk. 

 Needle. 

 Antiseptics. 

 The castrating scalpel' (Fig. 123) has. a markedly convex 

 blade to facilitate the cutting through of the thick integu- 



i i 



Fig. 124 

 Figs. 123 and 124 — Castrating Knives. 



ments covering the testicle at one deliberate stroke. The 

 emasculator (Fig. 21) is the most adaptable instrument with 

 which to divide the cord. It crushes and cuts off the sper- 

 matic cord at one pang and as satisfactorily manages the 

 bleeding as any of the various methods of ablation. It, how- 

 ever, has the fault of cutting rather poorly when the tough 

 tunica vaginalis of full growns is caught between its jaws. 

 When the ablation is effected below the lower attachment 

 of the tunica vaginalis the emasculator cuts the cord off very 

 easily, but when a higher level is selected as the point of ab- 

 lation it will be found sorely unequal to the task of effecting 

 a division without the employment of considerable force. 



