254 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



acute sclerogenesis of the cord following immediately in 

 the wake of castration is not always a true specimen of this 

 morbid condition, for it may disappear spontaneously, even 

 after sojourning for six weeks to more than two months. 

 True scirrhous cord never diminishes in volume, but grows 

 gradually larger and larger, presenting clinical signs analo- 

 gous to those of true tumors with which, however, it must 

 not be classified. The acute varieties occurring immediately 

 after castration, although they present themselves in the 

 form of very hard and sometimes quite voluminous tume- 

 factions of the cord, should be called "funiculitis," and 



Fig. 129 — A Large Scirrhous Cord. 



the phrase "scirrhous cord" should be reserved for the 

 chronic, encroaching variety. 



The pyogenesis of scirrhous cord may be streptococcic, 

 botryomycotic, or actinomycotic, the latter being rare. 

 The formation of abscesses which are all destined to point 

 at the surface of the scrotum sooner or later is accompanied 

 with the formation of abundance of fibrous tissue around 

 them. The abscesses may be small, large, single or mul- 

 tiple; the pointing and cicatrization of one is followed by 

 the evolution of others, leaving the mass more or less rid- 

 dled with excavations and tracts. Sometimes a single ex- 

 cavation (abscess cavity), a single tract and the surround- 



