CASTRATION OF CRYPTORCHIDS. 
309 
anesthesia produces. The hand which is pushed through the 
inguinal ring and then the interstice, is guided by given 
points of an absolute fixity, which the motions of the animal 
(very limited as they are) cannot displace. Then anesthesia 
has not only no real advantages, but, on the contrary, seems to 
offer serious objections. First, it consitutes a complication 
of the operation, especially in the hands of practitioners who 
may not be familiar with the use of ether or chloroform, 
and it may give rise to fatal accidents, especially in the ordi¬ 
nary conditions of practice, in consequence of the difficulty of 
obtaining sufficiently pure anesthetics. Chloroform is often 
sophisticated with very irritating chlorated acids, the admin¬ 
istration of which produces effects of a very dangerous char¬ 
acter. 
But that which is to be specially feared in the operation 
which we are considering is the muscular resolutio?i produced 
by anesthesia, as well as the loss of sensibility. The flaccid- 
ity which follows in the small oblique, as in all other muscles 
of animal life, by the action of the anesthetics, is one of the 
most favorable of conditions for the occurrence of an even¬ 
tration. Indeed, during the operation, when the testicle is 
drawn out from the peritoneal cavity into the inguinal tract, 
one feels the posterior border of the small oblique, which im¬ 
mediately applies itself upon the crural arch after the passage 
of the testicle, as if to prevent the protrusion of the intes¬ 
tines. Evidently, if the operation is performed with the use 
of anesthetics, the removal of the contractility of this muscle 
must involve the dangers of eventration. And again, the 
animal sleeping under the influence of anesthetics does not 
recover when the operation is finished within half an hour, 
three-quarters, and at times even a whole hour. During the 
period in which he lies upon the bed, he soon makes attempts 
to get upon his feet and rises on his fore legs, while the hind 
legs continue powerless and the animal falls back. And it is 
only with shaking and trembling that at last he succeeds in 
rising. During these struggles all the conditions for pressure 
from within outward by the intestinal mass are realized. I 
have experimentally judged of the effect of the relaxation of 
