DIFFERENT METHODS OF CASTRATION. 435 
obtained the testicle sufficiently out the abdomen to place the 
clam, the assistant should do this by opening and putting it on 
the anterior part of the cord. At this part of the operation the 
Russians generally cut through the vas deferens, but Hurtrel d’Ar- 
boval says nothing on the subject. When the clam has been 
placed on the cord, the operator, giving up the testicle to the care 
of the assistant, should be cautious that no parts of the scrotum 
are included in it, and then take the open ends of the clams in his 
right hand, having disengaged every thing with the left; the 
assistant then brings the ends of the clam together by his pincers, 
taking care to keep them close to the horse at the moment of his 
struggling. The ends being secured by a double round of string, 
and tied, the generality of practitioners take away the testicle by 
cutting through the cord at about the distance of half an inch 
from the clam. Others allow them to remain on till the clam be 
taken off, as a matter of security from secondary haemorrhage. 
The clams must have a sufficient degree of pressure completely 
to stop the circulation in the part, yet not so great as to lace¬ 
rate the vessels. If pressure be made inefficiently, the ani¬ 
mal suffers severely from it; on the other hand, the pressure 
being properly made, he suffers less than in any other way of 
operating. 
I have seen hundreds of horses, of all ages, cut in this way; and 
I must confess that my experience is far in favour of its adoption: 
it certainly produces less pain, the animal loses less flesh and con¬ 
dition, and is sooner recovered than when operated on by the 
actual cautery. 
The covered operation is the one that I am about to advocate, 
and which differs only inasmuch, that the scrotum and dartos 
muscle must be cautiously cut through, without dividing the tunica 
vaginalis. It was a Monsieur Berger, who was accidentally at my 
house when I was about to castrate a horse, and who, on my saying 
that I should probably do it with the cautery, expressed his sur¬ 
prise that I should perform the operation in any other way than 
on the plan generally approved of in France. Being a stranger 
to it, he kindly consented to preside at the operation, and after 
seeing him perform on the near testicle, I did the same on the 
right, but of course not with the same facility as Berger. After 
opening the scrotum, and dissecting through the dartos, which is 
very readily done by passing the knife lightly over its fibres, the 
testicle, and its covering the tunica vaginalis, must be taken in the 
right hand, while the left should be employed in pushing back 
the scrotum from its attachments; and, having your assistant 
ready, as before, with the clam, it must be placed well above the 
