CASTRATION. 
85 
ations, the veterinarian, as a general rule, is called upon to per¬ 
form, more especially is this true in the rural or country districts, 
or in localities where the breeding of animals is carried on to 
any great extent. I shall, however, endeavor to give you some 
practical points, obtained in a general way, during an experience 
of over thirty years, and shall also try to point out to you the 
many, and especially the most common complications, and their 
particular danger, as to the ratio of mortality. 
It is unnecessary also to touch upon the anatomy or structure 
of the organs of generation, or those immediately related to the 
subject matter, that is too familiar to all of you, to require any 
reference to, or explanation of on my part, and I shall, there¬ 
fore, proceed at once to the operation itself. Methods of prep¬ 
aration, complications, care, etc. There have been, and still are 
many methods of performing the operation, namely: Actual 
cautery, torsion, ligation, scraping the cords, distension and 
snapping off the spermatic cord (clamping, compressing the 
cords), and the ecraseur. The first mentioned, the actual 
cautery, has been in existence in all parts of the country for 
many years, and still has some followers, who have not been 
educated up to the times, but, as it is an unnecessarily painful 
operation, I shall not dwell upon it except to mention that it is 
performed by placing hot firing irons upon and across the dis¬ 
tended scrotum and burning through the membrane until the 
testicle is exposed, and then separating it from the attachment 
and severing the spermatic cord by the same operation or pro¬ 
cess. This necessarily makes a very severely burned wound, 
and as a consequence inflicts unnecessary pain. 
The second, or torsion, consists in separating the membranes 
of the scrotal sac, exposing the testicles, and then with an in¬ 
strument made expressly for the purpose, twisting the testicle 
upon itself until the cord is twisted off and bruised, so that haem¬ 
orrhage is usually stopped, this also has its disadvantages, in as- 
much as so much of the spermatic cord left within the inguinal 
region is affected that it fails to relax, and scirrhosis of the 
cords will most likely result. If not, there will be a large 
