CASTRATION OF THE HORSE. 
625 
ring to where the testicle would normally be situated, and 
then intersecting it by another, about five or six inches in 
length, drawn parallel to the median line, but about three 
inches from it. If this second line be drawn so that two- 
thirds of it is anterior to the first it will exactly represent the 
proper place for the incision. 
If the foregoing directions be followed, no hemorrhage 
nor other difficulty need occur and all that becomes necessary 
is for the operator to place himself behind his subject, and 
with the first finger and thumb of his left hand render tense 
the skin, while with an ordinary scapel in his right hand he 
makes a free incision through the skin and dartos. 
With the skin and dartos thus divided, the region of the 
external inguinal ring may be explored and the testicle felt if 
in that locality. To do this it is not necessary to extensively 
lacerate the loose cellular tissue in that region, as the testicle, 
if there, may be felt through it. If the testicle cannot be felt 
in the vicinity .of the external inguinal ring, the skin and dar¬ 
tos are to be raised with one hand, and with the fingers of the 
other the connective tissue lacerated in the direction of the 
internal inguinal ring, or in other words, in the direction of 
the external angle of the ilium and over the tract of the in¬ 
guinal canal. As the operator proceeds with this process he 
can, his fingers being beneath the skin and dartos, readily 
detect the testicle through the other tissues, no matter in what 
portion of the canal it may be located, and it is, therefore, 
absurd for him to force his hand into the external inguinal 
ring and inguinal canal, and thereby entail upon himself 
much work and great responsibility. If when the region of 
the internal inguinal ring is reached, the testicle cannot be felt 
anywhere in the canal, the case is one of abdominal cryptor¬ 
chidism, and the abdomen must be entered to procure the 
testicle; but if, on the other hand, the testicle can be felt, the 
case is one of inguinal cryptorchidism, and the operation is 
thereby reduced to one of much less gravity. 
To procure the testicle, when in the canal, the operator 
with his index finger penetrates the tissues directly over it 
until the surface of the vaginal sheath is felt. The opening 
