476 
CASTRATION. 
general and local, should be adopted. We are sometimes com- 
pelled to have recourse to scarifications, which often give vent to 
a red and glutinous serosity, that indicates a tendency to gan- 
green. The suppuration which is established after castration is 
always preceded by engorgement of the parts in the neighbour- 
hood of the wound, and by a febrile action, which begins to 
develop itself on the second or third day, arrives at its height 
on the fourth, and continues until the suppurative process has 
been fully established. In this process a serous fluid is secreted, 
at first yellow, becoming afterwards a liftle white, and finishing 
by assuming the character of pus. This laudable secretion, 
the progress of which may be interrupted by a variety of cir- 
cumstances, increases until the tenth or twelfth day; then 
diminishes more or less slowly, and does not cease until the 
24th or 30th day. 
VII. — Castration by Crushing or Bruising. 
1. The Horse . — This cruel operation, which, on account of 
the torture it produces, ought never to be practised, has been 
advised on the spermatic cord, by placing it on some hard sub- 
stance and crushing it with repeated blows ; and on the testicles, 
either by the same mode of proceeding, or by compressing them 
forcibly between the claws of a large pair of forceps. 
2. The Bull . — On this animal the operation is performed in 
somewhat the same way, and some veterinarians give decided 
preference to this mode of castration. The instruments neces- 
sary for practising it are, 1st, Cords to confine the head of the 
bull to the manger, or a tree, or a post, by means of several turns 
round the horns and the fixed body. 2d, Two hobbles, which 
being fastened round the hind feet, and then brought between 
rings or nooses that are attached to the fore legs, and con- 
tinued over the withers, prevent the animal from kicking. 3d, 
Two bars of wood, each of them seven feet in length, placed 
under the belly of the animal, and supported by two men, in 
order to prevent him from lying down. 4th, Two round pieces 
of wood thirty or thirty-four inches long, and six inches in cir- 
cumference. 5th, A large hammer with a flat surface similar 
to that used by shoemakers ; and, 6th, A cord of moderate thick- 
ness eighteen or twenty inches long : four assistants will also be 
required. 
The bull being fastened by the head and his legs secured, and 
the bars held under his belly by two of the assistants, one of 
whom also lifts the tail, the operator places himself on his knees 
behind the animal, and examines whether the spermatic cord and 
the testicles are sound. He then places the two cylindrical 
pieces of wood, one before and the other behind the scrotum, 
