042 
CASTRATION OF A MULE, 
daily when, as in the present case, a library of circulation is 
appended to each. It will effect a gradual and a most beneficial 
change in the character of the agriculturist. It will much, and 
sometimes almost incalculably, benefit him in the views which 
it will give him of certain agricultural processes. His cattle 
cannot fail of being better selected and better managed, for he 
will understand the principles on which their health and utility 
depend ; and, last, and in our estimation not least, it will bring 
him into connexion with the educated and well-informed veteri¬ 
narian, from whom as a friend and a practitioner he will derive 
many a useful hint as to the general management of his stock, 
and to whom he may look with confidence when disease makes 
its appearance among them. 
The suggestions of the “ Member of the Harleston Farmers’ 
Club” are well worthy of consideration. It is a new and im¬ 
portant subject with regard to the colt and the calf. Our pages 
are freely open to any account of experiments. 
The next article contains a singular history of a case of cas¬ 
tration. It may not be inappropriately introduced here.—Y.] 
CASTRATION OF A MULE, FOLLOWED BY DEATH.— 
SINGULAR ANOMALY OF ORGANIZATION. 
By M. Olivier. 
On the 25th of April 1831, I castrated a very small mule, well- 
formed, about fifteen years old, and exceedingly vicious. I had 
much difficulty in grasping the testicles on account of their very 
small size, and the powerful retraction of the spermatic cords. If 
I had not been in the habit of seizing the two testicles at once, in 
order to make the incision on each of them, and press them from 
their common envelopes and those peculiar to each, I should not 
have been able to operate on the right testicle, or to place the 
clams upon the cord, so great was the retraction. There is a real 
advantage in holding both testicles firmly in the left hand, and not 
to abandon the right one until the incisions are sufficiently large 
to permit the escape of both of them. By this simple proceeding 
we avoid the force which we must exercise on the left cord when 
the retraction of the testicle is strong, and it is almost always so in 
old and irascible animals, and especially mules. 
I was much surprised to find the testicles strangely small in an 
animal so vigorous as this was. They were not larger than a nut, 
yet they were perfectly organized. 
The animal was fed on mild and cooling food, and did not experi- 
