266 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



up with a sash cord or strap. The third man then takes 

 the horse by the head and directs the assistants at the ropes to 

 pull in opposite directions until the horse falls. The rope 

 of the uppermost leg is now "double-half-hitched" over the 

 foot, passed around the loins, and "double-half-hitched" to 

 the opposite foot. The horse is then rolled over to the. 

 opposite side and the other foot fastened in the same manner. 

 The legs may be parted still further by the use of a spreader 

 passing between the feet, but if the ropes passing around 

 the loin are drawn taut the spreader will not be necessary. 

 The forelegs are secured in the flexed position with small 

 cords or straps. 



The appropriate posture for operation is the dorsal lat- 

 eral attitude with the affected side uppermost. The oper- 

 ator takes either a sitting or a kneeling attitude posteriorly. 

 Farmer Miles recommended sitting flat upon the tail. 



General anaesthesia is advisable, although not essential 

 nor customary amongst American veterinarians. The ad- 

 ministration of one ounce of chloral hydrate one hour before 

 operating is beneficial, and advisable when general anaes- 

 thesia is not expedient. 



On the operating table ridgling castration can not be 

 safely performed without profound anaesthesia, and the table 

 must be so constructed as to admit the operator into the 

 space between the fore legs and the -hind ones. With such 

 a table and with the patient under the influence of chloroform 

 the uppermost leg can be pulled upward with a rope so as 

 to appropriately expose the region for operation. 



ANTISEPSIS. — There is no other veterinary operation 

 in which careful, painstaking antiseptic precautions are more 

 essential then in the castration of a ridgling. The first step 

 in this direction is the sterilization of the knife and emascu- 

 lator, especially the latter, as this instrument must under 

 no circumstances deposit microbes when it crushes the cord. 

 It is here that the mischief, ending fatally, often occurs, and 

 to forestall every chance of infection from this source, only 

 perfect sterilization of the instrument will answer. For this 

 purpose, when operating without a steam sterilizer, the 

 author uses mercuric chloride solution no weaker than i to 

 300. The harmful effect of this solution upon the metal is 

 easily compensated by the greater certainty of the disin- 

 fection as compared with that obtained from the other anti- 

 septics. An emasculator or ecraseur, previously cleaned or 

 boiled and carried about wrapped in a dean cloth, that is im- 

 mersed for ten to twenty minutes in such a solution while 



