ANIMAL CASTRATION. 5 



mitis, sarcoceie, hydrocele, cyst, etc. In the other 

 case it is resorted to for reasons of meie/asJiion and 

 convenience, and has for its object the production of 

 such a modification of the general organism as shall 

 increase the adaptedness of the animals subjected to 

 it to the uses to which they are applied ; when, of 

 course, the economic becomes the paramount and ex- 

 clusive reason for thus interfering with the obvious 

 creative purpose. It is the operation as performed 

 under this general heading that we shall now prin- 

 cipally consider. 



In relation to this latter object it must be borne in 

 mind that the operation is followed by certain pecu- 

 liar effects, which may either manifest themselves 

 upon the entire organism, or upon some special func- 

 tions only. In the first instance it is quite evident 

 that the primary and most obvious effect of the mu- 

 tilation is to be discovered in the character and dis- 

 position of the animal, which at once becomes in a 

 ■double sense an "altered" creature, docile and sub- 

 missive, and entirely willing to become the obedient 

 and useful servant of his human master. But it is 

 not alone that we find the vicious stallion, the un- 

 controllable bull, the kicking jackass, the dangerous 

 boar, and even the hysteric mare and cow transformed 

 into the useful gelding, the quiet ox, the patient don- 

 key, and the " fatherly " barrovi^, the quiet working 

 mare and the productive cow, as the resiilt of the 

 change which the character — the nervous system, in 

 fact — -has undergone. Besides this, other marked 

 changes are to be observed of a more distinctly 



