CASTRATION OF CRYPTORCHIDS. 
185 
principal one is spread between the efferent canal and the tes¬ 
ticular blood vessels, while the other, the accessory, lies be¬ 
tween the gubernaculum testis, the lateral wall of the pelvis 
and the external face of the guberculatum.” 
Under the name of incomplete abdominal cryptorchidy, 
Prof. Degive has described a variety of abdominal testicular 
ectopia in which there exists a rudimentary vaginal sheath, 
measuring from one to three centimeters in depth, contain¬ 
ing either the testicle, or perhaps the epididymis alone, the 
testicle remaining floating in thj abdomen. 
The testicle in the abdominal cryptorchid horse varies in 
size, sometimes scarcely exceeding a hazel nut in dimensions, 
and with an epididymis twice its normal length. Generally, 
however, it is as large as a hen’s egg, flattened, slightly elon¬ 
gated, and of a marked grayish color, with a vaguely elastic 
softness, and with an irregular surface resulting from the sin¬ 
uous blood vessels which run under the tunica albuginea, the 
tissue of which is more loose than in the normal state. 
The epididymis also varies considerably. At times, with 
its normal relations to the testicles, its dimensions are in regu¬ 
lar proportion to those of the gland itself, while at other 
times it is greatly elongated and more or less separated from 
the testicle. 
Mr. Montane makes the following report of a histologic 
examination of a testicle in a case of abdominal ectopia: 
“ Cryptorchidy is an abnormality due to an arrest in the de¬ 
velopment of the testicle, produced by a functional incapacity 
of the organ. It is one of those peculiar cases of the general 
law by which the function becomes predominant and deter¬ 
mines the form . The descent of the male organ in the testi¬ 
cular bags is the normal consequence, almost obligatory of 
the establishment of the testicular function. Let this function 
cease during one of the various stages of their regular evolu¬ 
tion, and the testicle becomes immobilized in the form and 
situation which it had at that moment attained, and, as a con¬ 
sequence, the arrest of the genital gland in the abdominal 
cavity, or in the inguinal canal, constitutes either the abdom¬ 
inal or the inguinal cryptorchidy. 
