102 MEMOIR ON THE CASTRATION OF THE HORSE. 
Foals feel this operation so little, that there is no occasion to 
take them from their mother. They may suck and gambol about 
as usual. 
Colts a year or more old should be housed and taken care of, 
and exercised. Exercise, indeed, is indispensable. 
It rarely happens that this simple operation, viz. ligature upon 
the unopened tunica vaginalis ( ligature a testicles couverts), is fol- 
lowed by any ill consequences. Indeed, there are but two that we 
need notice ; these are, engorgement of the sheath , and abscess. 
Engorgement of the Sheath. — Inflammation, the inevita- 
ble sequel of castration, the pressure of the ligature, the compres- 
sion of the vaginal sheath, the irritability of the young subject, all 
become causes of tumefaction, sometimes considerable, of the 
sheath and scrotum, on the second or third day. Diet, exercise, 
blood-letting in plethoric subjects of a certain age, are the proper 
means of preventing such engorgement, and of counteracting its 
spread upon peritoneal or intestinal tissue ; while the tumefaction 
itself is met by simple lotions to the part, aided by scarifications 
and exercise. 
Abscess. — Some days subsequent to the operation, sometimes 
one observes stiffness to a considerable extent has crept over one 
of the thighs. Examination of the part shews that abscess has 
formed upon that side of the sheath. This may owe its pro- 
duction either to the incision being full small, and that, in conse- 
quence, the external wound has become closed before the ligature 
has been eliminated ; or to the circumstance of the ligature not 
having been drawn sufficiently tight, and so the cord remaining 
incompletely mortified. Prevention, therefore, consists in taking 
care to completely fulfil these two conditions. The remedy is free 
incision into the abscess : this will allow the ligature and mortified 
parts to be thrown off and discharged with the pus. Leaving the 
ends of the ligature long enough to hang out of the wounds might 
mostly prevent abscess occurring ; though even then, occasionally, 
from the lips of the external wound closing around the ligature, 
abscess forms, a case best relieved by simple traction of its ends. 
Taking into consideration all methods of castration, as regards 
the number of accidents consequent on them, the odds are in favour 
of the ligature. 
To Castration by Clams, the greatest objection is, the neces- 
sity of maintaining them for eight-and-forty hours upon the cord, 
the compression and dropping of which becomes more or less a 
source of irritation. Dropping of the cord operating against 
This method necessitates the denuding of the testicle of its vaginal covering ; 
it affords the advantage, however, of more complete pressure. But this, at 
the age we are operating, is but of minor importance. ' 
