DISEASES OF THE GENEEATIVE ORGANS. 169 



when the struggle and retraction have ceased, the knife is inserted 

 through the cord, between its anterior and posterior portions, and the 

 latter, the one which the muscle retracts, is cut completely through. 

 The testicle will now hang limp, and there is no longer any tendency 

 to retraction. It should be pulled down until it will no longer hang 

 loose below the wound and the clamps applied around the still at- 

 tached portion of the cord, close up to the skin. The clamps, which 

 may be made of any tough wood, are grooved along the center of the 

 surfaces opposed to each other, thereby fulfilling two important in- 

 dications — (a) enabling the clamps to hold more securely and (b) 

 providing for the application of an antiseptic to the cord. For this 

 purpose a dram of sulphate of copper may be mixed with an ounce 

 of vaseline and pressed into the groove in the face of each clamp. 

 In applying the clamp over the cord it should be drawn so close with 

 pincers as to press out all blood from the compressed cord and de- 

 stroy its vitality, and the cord applied upon the compressing clamps 

 should be so hard-twined that it will not stretch later and slacken the 

 hold. When the clamp has been fixed the testicle is cut off one-half 

 to 1 inch below it, and the clamp may be left thus for 24 hours; then, 

 by cutting the cord around one end of the clamp, the latter may be 

 opened and the stump liberated without any danger of bleeding. 

 Should the stump hang out of the wound it should be pushed inside 

 with the finger and left there. The wound should begin to discharge 

 white matter on the second day in hot weather or the third in cold, 

 and from that time a good recovery may be expected. 



The young horse suffers less from castration than the old, and very 

 rarely perishes. Good health in the subject is all important. Castra- 

 tion should never be attempted during the prevalence of strangles, 

 influenza, catarrhal fever, contagious pleurisy, bronchitis, pneumonia, 

 purpura hemorrhagica, or other specific disease, nor on subjects that 

 have been kept in close, ill-ventilated, filthy buildings, where the 

 system is liable to have been charged with putrid bacteria or other 

 products. Warm weather, is to be preferred to cold, but the fly time 

 should be avoided or the flies kept at a distance by the application of 

 a watery solution of tar, carbolic acid, or camphor to the wound. 



CASTRATION OP CEYPTORCHmS (EIDGLINGS). 



This is the removal of a testicle or testicles that have failed to 

 descend into the scrotum, but have been detained in the inguinal 

 canal or inside the abdomen. The manipulation requires an accurate 

 anatomical knowledge of the parts, and special skill, experience, and 

 manual dexterity, and can not be made clear to the unprofessional 

 mind in a short description. It consists, however, in the discovery 

 and removal of the missing gland by exploring through the natural 

 channel (the inguinal canal), or, in case it is absent, through the in- 



