CASTRATION OF CRYPTORCHID8. 
311 
/ 
the most difficult, and the one which demands greater acquaint¬ 
ance with its conditions. Inguinal ectopia is much less seri¬ 
ous. The testicle, more or less engaged in the inguinal space, 
can easily be secured with similar manipulations, less the per¬ 
foration of the peritoneum. 
« 
Abdominal Cryptorchidy. 
The operation is divided into five steps: first, exposure of 
the inguinal ring; second, perforation of the inguinal tract ; 
third, prehension of the testicle; fourth, ablation; fifth clean¬ 
ing the wound. 
1. —Exposure of the Inguinal Ring. —With both hands the 
operator makes a transversal fold to the scrotum, outward of 
the raphy at the place where the testicle ought to be. While 
an assistant takes hold of one of the extremities of the fold to 
keep it on the stretch, the operator, with a convex bistoury, 
makes a perpendicular incision in its middle, intersecting the 
scrotum and dartos, and measuring about fifteen centimeters 
(about seven to eight inches). It is sometimes possible that 
the dartos is not completely divided at this step of the opera¬ 
tion, and in this case it is necessary to carefully expose the sub- 
dartoic connective tissue by a few strokes of the bistoury, and 
then lacerate until the inguinal ring can be reached, which is 
done by the fingers being carried to and fro until the ring is 
felt by its posterior commissure, indicating—as it does—the 
course the hand of the operator has to follow. 
2. — Perforation of the Inguinal Tract. —This most important 
and delicate step of the operation must be performed with the 
hand corresponding to the side of the testicle in ectopia, viz., 
the left hand must be used when looking for the left testicle, 
and vice versa. The horse being secured as heretofore de¬ 
scribed, it is impossible to act otherwise, and to use indifferenl ly 
either hand as advised by M. Jacoulet. 
The operator, with his arm and hand dipped in Van Swie- 
ten’s solution, introduces the fingers, brought together in cone 
shape, into the wide funnel that he has just made and in the 
bottom of which is the inguinal ring. He pushes them in the 
posterior commissure, or that resisting angle formed by the 
