i8S 
W. E. B. MILLER. 
the cord, and Dr. Rogers knows better when he states that “you 
do.” On the contrary, the weight of the testicle itself will draw 
the cord sufficiently low, if it has any size whatever, after it is 
released from its envelopes or attachment. Where the horse is 
down this cannot be the case, for the very position he occupies 
is that of constraint (cramped up) and naturally forces him to 
draw up the testicle into the canal. 
If however it were necessary to use traction, there would be 
less resistance against it on the part of the animal. 
There is not half the danger of champignon or scirrhous 
cords, they are in fact impossible, unless the operator is careless 
and either purposely or accidentally cuts the cord too long or 
neglects to push it up into the wound, when it fails to retract. 
I cannot call to mind a single case in my own practice, when I 
exercised due care, or when there was no complication, where I 
have had scirrhous cord for several years past, while I am fre¬ 
quently called upon to operate on such cases that were castrated 
by others. 
(I have operated on three within the last twelve months , that 
the ozimers informed me were castrated by the gentleman who with 
all of his “ scientific knowledge f “good surgery ,” non “sleight of 
hand performances ,” “ Rohard's methods ,” etc., seems to be no 
more successfid than the “old quack f whose methods “we as pro¬ 
fessional gentleme?i are not to folloivd) In fact I can conceive 
of but one single objection, namely: hernia, that can be urged 
against the method, and that alone is slight in comparison to 
the benefits and advantages it possesses, when you take into 
consideration that but one colt out of every fifty, on an average, 
is ruptured, and that in most cases can be readily diagnosed, it 
would seem to be idle folly to take the risk and the labor 
required with the other forty-nine in casting them. 
In his over-zealous desire to “elevate” the profession, the 
learned surgeon, scientist, and professional reformer seems to 
have forgotten that only a very few years ago he might have 
been found almost every day during the castrating season driv¬ 
ing with an old castrator (“a noted quack,”) from farm to farm 
