418 
INFLAMMATION OF THE SPERMATIC CORD. 
a condition due to infection of the cord after castration. In horses it 
is comparatively common, and in oxen by no means unknown. 
A portion of the cord is removed in castration, and the remainder 
then swells, partly in consequence of disturbed circulation, partly of 
inflammatory irritation. This swollen condition generally disappears 
completely in eight to fourteen days, sometimes a little later. In horses, 
and occasionally in oxen and other animals, the disappearance, however, 
is sometimes incomplete ; the swelling increases, and the stump of the 
spermatic cord may become as large as a man’s head. The enlargement 
may be confined to the extremity, but generally extends further upwards, 
even beyond the inguinal canal and into the abdominal cavity. Ringk 
noticed an extraordinary development in a horse, the left spermatic cord 
on post-mortem weighing 24 lbs. and the right 30 lbs. In such cases the 
operative wound refuses to heal; a slight opening remains, from which 
small quantities of pus are discharged, and through which a probe can 
be introduced for a distance of 4 to 8 inches into the spermatic cord. 
It was long known that the disease was due to chronic inflammation 
of the spermatic cord, though its cause was not discovered until a com¬ 
paratively recent date. Rivolta, in 1871, suggested that it consisted in 
infection with microparasites (discomyces equi), and a short time after¬ 
wards Johne independently came to the conclusion that it was a funiculitis 
actinomycotica. Later, however, he declared micrococci to be the cause, 
named the disease mykodesmoid or mykofibroma, and ascribed it to 
infection with a micrococcus, which Johne described as M. ascoformans, 
and Rabe as M. bothryogenus. 
Riom this it is clear that the disease is of an infectious nature, and 
may possibly be caused by more than one organism. (The scirrhous 
cords removed in the Berlin clinique were generally found to contain 
bothryomyces and staphylococci.) Its varying progress also points to 
infection. Sometimes the growth and thickening occur rapidly, and 
the spermatic cord may attain the diameter of a goose’s egg in a few 
months, sometimes the condition may exist for indefinite periods 
without marked increase in size. 
Scirrhous cord is commoner in certain districts, perhaps because the 
necessaiy conditions for infection are more favourable; perhaps because 
the style of castration there adopted favours infection. 
The following indirect causes of scirrhous cord are recognised 
(1) Exposuie of the cord after castration, and its projection beyond 
the tunica vaginalis or skin wound. Sometimes this is the result of 
applying clams too low, using too heavy clams, dividing the “ non-vas¬ 
cular ” portion of the cord before applying the clam, or cutting off the vas 
deferens. More frequently the spermatic cord is not carefully returned 
to the processus vaginalis after removing the clams. Pulling on the cord 
