CASTRATION. 
1 09 
from whence it is continued upwards behind the flexor pedis, to 
which just before its insertion it is closely united. It is then con- 
nected to the sides of the navicular bones, covers almost the 
whole of the outer and also a great part of the inner surface of 
the os coronse. It is attached by ligamentous bands to the infero- 
internal, to the supero-internal, and to the outer part of the os 
coronee. The use of this substance, it is evident, besides con- 
necting together the bones of the coffin joint, is to communicate 
the superincumbent weight to the posterior part of the horny 
sole. 
/-v 
dFomgtt Depart sit cut. 
LIBRARY 
CASTRATION. 
By Professor Vatel, A l fort. 
[We have often blamed ourselves for not having presented our 
readers with an analysis of that standard work, now recog- 
nized in all the French schools, “Elemens de Pathologie 
Veterinaire,” by Professor Vatel. At some future time we 
will discharge this neglected part of our duty ; and in the 
meanwhile we will occasionally translate the account which is 
given of a few 7 of the most important veterinary operations, 
selecting however, and for obvious reasons, other animals than 
the horse.] 
This operation, by means of which animals lose the faculty of re- 
production, consists in removing the testicles of the male, and the 
ovaries, or sometimes a portion more or less considerable of the 
uterus, from the female. It is practised on almost all domesticated 
animals. The operation is sometimes rendered necessary by certain 
pathological states of the animal, as hydrocele, enterocele, and 
some serious affections of the testicles or their membranes. At 
other times it is resorted to for the convenience of the owner, and 
at the expence of certain physical, and we may almost say moral, 
qualities in the animal. If it renders animals more docile, and 
gives them a disposition to fatten, it must not be forgotten that, 
after they have been castrated, they have no longer that energy 
and force of courage which are the noblest characteristics of the 
individuals that retain the full possession of their reproductive 
powers. Their crest, their limbs, their whole form, is no longer 
