126 



Veterinary Obstetrics 



calcareous deposits, which invade the entire primitive gland and 

 efface every trace of glandular tissue, inducing a state equivalent 

 to anorchidy. In yet other instances the primitive testicle be- 

 comes the seat of a malignant neoplasm. In one case, we ob- 

 served in a cryptorchid pig a testicle which was the seat of a ma- 

 lignant new-growth which had contracted firm adhesions with 

 adjacent loops of intestine. Each of these conditions serves or- 

 dinarily to prevent the descent of the testicle into the scrotum. 

 The affected organs are necessarily and incurably sterile. Ex- 

 cept in cases of malignant disease of the glands, castration is not 

 ordinarily demanded. 



Fig. 13. nERMoiD Cyst of Testici<e 

 Showing dental tissues. Horse. (Hinebaucli.) 



3. Cryptorchidy also constitutes a uniform cause of sterility 

 when both testicles are retained within the abdominal cavity. 

 We .speak of abdominal and inguinal cryptorchidy but, ordi- 

 narily, only the former may exist as a permanent condition, while 

 the latter is a transitory state, in which the gland is descending 

 from the abdomen into the scrotum, which it will eventually 

 reach. It is only very rarely that inflammatory adhesions or 

 other conditions may permanently arrest a testicle in the inguinal 

 region during its descent. 



Typically, cryptorchidy is an arrest in the development of the 

 testicle, the organ being small, flaccid and soft. Histologically, 

 it partakes of the character of the fetal testicle and no sperma- 



