9 ° 
W. E. B. MILLER. 
casting, and if so, you will know its value where you are com¬ 
pelled to throw your horse, and I will not weary your patience 
longer on that subject. 
It will not be necessary either to dwell long upon the classes 
of animals we are called upon to castrate. 
Those of you who live in country districts, probably have to 
do with bulls, rams, pigs and the smaller animals, as well as 
with the colts, if you make a practice of doing that kind of work, 
but here in the city and immediate vicinity, we have but little 
of that class of work, and have to operate on stallions chiefly,, 
and it is with this idea in view that I address you. 
There may be many complications attending your practice- 
that you will be sure to find if you have not already found them; 
the operation will require careful and considerate attention, and 
theory as well as experience will be required, in order that you: 
may be successful in its performance. One very serious com¬ 
plication that I sometimes meet with, is hernia, either on one or 
both sides, and as it is a serious condition, even when known to 
exist, it becomes still more so when not diagnosed. I shall refer 
to two of them particularly later on. 
It is customary with me to always ask the person who owns 
a colt if he raised him, and if he ever discovered any enlarge¬ 
ments of the scrotum when he was foaled, or at any time there¬ 
after ? If not, I always make an examination if possible, and 
even then you may not be able to discover its presence, if how¬ 
ever, you know of its existence, always guard against the danger 
of protrusion, and cast the animal. Before beginning the oper¬ 
ation place him upon his back and expose the inguinal region 
as much as possible by bracing the legs apart ; reduce the 
hernia, if possible, before opening the scrotal sac, after which 
withdraw the testicle with the dartos, tunica, erythroida, and the 
cremaster muscle and serous membranes (still intact and un¬ 
opened), covering it, press down upon it as much as possible, 
and place the clamp firmly over and as high upon the cord as: 
you possibly can, so as to entirely close the inguinal canal, this: 
is called the covered operation. You can then remove the tes- 
