128 
F. MAURI. 
this very delicate step of the operation, and for this reason I 
have deemed it indispensable to say a few words as to the 
topographical anatomy of the region, before entering upon a 
description of the modus operandi. Others before me, and 
especially Messrs. Degives and Jacoubet, have given a minute 
and precise description of the inguinal region of the horse, 
and I certainly have nothing to add to the excellent work of 
these two authors; but it has appeared to me that in order to 
better reach my object, viz., to familiarize the idea of the op¬ 
eration among veterinarians, it will be of advantage to give 
them a description as plain and accurate as possible, not of 
the entire inguinal region, but of its essential organs and their 
most important relations. If a long and minute description 
would be apt to tire the minds of those who may have mostly 
forgotten what they had previously studied, it is also possible 
to produce hesitancy and apprehension in the operator, by the 
multiplicity of anatomical details to which he may attach 
exaggerated importance. The inguinal region will not, there 
fore, be described in the sense given to that term by anato¬ 
mists, and 1 shall only indicate the parts of which a knowl¬ 
edge is indispensable. I would first consider the inguinal 
region itself, and subsequently, the testicles and the various 
positions they may occupy. 
First . —Inguinal Region. 
This is constituted by the angle formed by the union of 
the inferior abdominal wall with the internal crural region. 
Running obliquely downward, inward and from before back¬ 
ward, it extends from the external angle of the ilium to the 
anterior border of the pubes, offering for consideration the 
inguinal ring and the inguinal tract or interstice, of which 
the description possesses a special interest in relation to the 
operation under consideration. Before considering these 
two organs, let us glance at some of the anatomical dis¬ 
positions presented by the fleshy portion of the small oblique 
muscle of the abdomen and the crural arch, which are the 
boundaries, before and behind, of the place of the entrance for 
the initial procedure of the operator. 
The fleshy portion of the small oblique, triangular and 
