CASTRATION. 
47 ; > 
not the envelopes of the testicle, and they should be tied suffi- 
ciently tight to stop the circulation of blood in the testicle. Some 
practitioners cut away a portion of the testicle before they release 
the horse, in order to diminish the extension of the cord by the 
weight of the testicle. Others leave the testicles entire. 
After the operation, the horse is much depressed : he appears 
to be confounded by his new feelings — he carries his tail between 
his legs, his head hangs low, and he walks with his thighs apart 
from each other. Being returned to the stable, he crouches 
behind from the pain vfhich the continuance of the clams pro- 
duces: he should be tied securely to the manger, lest he should 
tear off the clams, and he should be carefully watched. A cra- 
dle should also be placed round his neck, and he should be bled 
if he appears to be irritable and feverish. 
Some veterinarians, after the operation, lead the horse to the 
watering place, and suffer him to remain there a considerable 
time. Others lead him about for some hours, if the weather is 
fine, and repeat the exercise on the three or four succeeding 
days, until the suppuration is established. This last method of 
proceeding is the one most generally followed, and the most 
beneficial. 
The testicles become mortified in about forty-eight or sixty 
hours after the application of the clams. They are either left to 
drop by their own weight, or, the packthread which confines 
the clams being cut through, the decayed portion of the sperma- 
tic cord is cut through with a pair of scissors. 
During the first ten or twelve days after castration the animal 
is kept on gruel, with hay or grass, according to the season of 
the year ; he is not exposed to any current of air, or to any 
thing which can arrest the process of suppuration, or induce a 
metastasis of inflammation, always a very serious thing in such 
cases. 
The consequences of castration by the clams are pain, inflam- 
mation, swelling and suppuration. The pain and inflammation 
are inevitable. When they exist only in a moderate degree, no 
particular treatment is required. Swelling always precedes sup- 
puration, and usually does not commence until the second day 
after the operation. It may be slight or extensive. In the first 
case it usually commences at the anterior part of the prepuce, 
and does not subside until the healing of the wounds is consider- 
ably advanced. Nothing is required but to guard against what- 
ever would impede the favourable progress of the case. When 
the tumefaction is great, so as to spread around the wounds and 
under the belly, and to ascend along the cords, and render the 
superior part of them hard and painful if touched, the case 
is becoming serious. The strictest antiphlogistic treatment. 
