ANIMAL CASTRATION. 9 



periods of the year, -without any known or apparent 

 cause, a tendency appears in wounds to take on gan- 

 grenous or septicemic complications which are not 

 so generally observed in the mild weather of spring 

 and early fall. Another essential condition which 

 surgeons will do well to take into consideration is the 

 general health of the subject, as in all cases of sur':;i- 

 cal interference, any diseased tendency already exist- 

 ing (perhaps latent) in the patient, such as an ansemic 

 condition, a gourmy predisposition, or typhoid sus- 

 ceptibility are likely to give rise to the development 

 of serious and perhaps fatal sequelae to an operation 

 which, simple as it may be in itself, is nevertheless 

 not without danger, or of possible complications of 

 its own. 



PBEPAEATIONS. 



The preparations to which the animal is to be sub- 

 jected previous to undergoing the operation are the 

 L-ime as those which are required in other cases of 

 surgical manipulation. Some portions of the prep- 

 arations are, perhaps, of even greater importance, 

 and may not, on any account, be overlooked, when 

 we take into consideration the peculiar position in 

 which the animal must frequently be secured in order 

 effectually to control his movements. Hence, a low 

 diet for twenty-four hours preceding that appointed 

 for the operation, and an empty stomach at the time 

 of castration, with a thorough washing of the sheath> 

 are precautions which no surgeon entitled to the 

 aame will ovej look or neglect, especially when a soli- 



