407 
DISEASES OF THE TESTICLE. 
too broad a base and extending to the tunica vaginalis, are generally 
easily removable. The mobility of the tumour gives sufficient indication 
on this point. If needful, the entire scrotum can be removed along with 
the testicles without danger, as the primitive methods of castrating 
ruminants clearly show. 
Various parasites, wnich also occur in the peritoneal cavity, are seen 
in the scrotum and tunica vaginalis, such as Sclerostomum armatum, 
Filaiia papillosa, &c. (Gresswell). They have no particular significance, 
and aie accidentally encountered in castration or when making post¬ 
mortems. 
VI.—DISEASES OF THE TESTICLE. CASTRATION OF 
CRYPTORCHIDS . 1 
(l.j CONGENITAL DEFECTS AND RETENTION OF 
THE TESTICLES. 
In the horse and dog, less frequently in other species, the testicles 
are sometimes either absent or in a state of rudimentary develop¬ 
ment. Leisering found the testicles of a stallion which had ineffectu¬ 
ally covered forty mares almost normal in size but flabby in texture 
wanting the tense normal character. Their arteries were distended, 
their connective tissue thickened, the semen watery, transparent, and 
containing many round cells, but only isolated spermatozoa. Testicles 
which have been retained in the abdominal cavity often show similar 
appearances. This condition (retentio testis) is not infrequent in 
stallions of the coarse, heavy variety, but is also seen in other animals. 
Leisering and Gurlt found the testicles of a dog still in the abdominal 
cavity, Preusse has seen the same thing in pigs, and Kaiser in bulls. 
Imminger considers the cryptorchid condition as common in bulls as in 
horses, and he was able to establish the hereditary character of the 
condition in certain cases. This abnormality is termed retentio abdo- 
minalis when the testicle lies near the upper wall of the abdomen, 
retentio iliaca when it is near the inner abdominal ring, and retentio 
inguinalis when it is within the inguinal canal. The apparent absence 
of one or both testicles thus produced is termed monorchismus or 
cryptorchismus. During the first few months of life in the foal the 
testicles certainly lie in the inguinal canal, but towards the end of the 
first year they again descend into the scrotum. 
Gurlt saw a horse in which the testicles occupied a very rare position, 
viz., in contact with, and adherent to, the diaphragm. Sometimes they 
1 [This section has been retained as being perhaps useful to students. Those who desire a 
fuller treatment of the subject are referred to my “Operative Technique,” the first volume of 
this series, pages 237 to 250, where the various operations are fully illustrated. —Jno. A. W. D.] 
