CASTRATION OF THE STALLION. 
11 
over the farm, only to keep him down for hours, while some boy 
was kept running “ back and forth ” to the kitchen fire, to bring 
an iron, “ half hot” enough to do the searing which was the cli¬ 
max of the animal’s tortures. And I have seen in my own city, 
since 1 have been in practice, two stallions, cast with “ tackle and 
falls,” kept down half an hour, the cordjigated with “ shoemakers’ 
waxed ends,” and the sensitive “ tunica vaginalis ” then filled on 
both sides with powdered alum, and resulting within ten days, in 
the death of both animals with peritonitis, as I predicted at the 
time it would. I also know of an old and experienced practi 
tioner, who was habitually complaining of his had luck in castra¬ 
tion, who always used a pocket-knife with which he cut his 
tobacco; and in addition to the blade being always “ gummed 
up” with the “fascinating weed,” it was always rusty. 
A thorough knowledge of the anatomy of the parts being im¬ 
plied, I believe among the prime requisites of successful cas¬ 
tration are, first, That the health of the animal shall be so far 
established that no seeds of disease are found lurking in his 
system. Second, That all instruments required for the operation 
be scrupulously clean, and the scalpel sharp and in perfect order. 
Third, That we do not operate in extreme hot or extreme cold 
weather, and that whatever mode we employ, the operation shall 
be expeditiously and humanely performed. There are various 
methods employed, and various instruments used by the pro¬ 
fession, that have proved very successful in the hands of many 
competent men; and for the benefit of young practitioners, who 
have not yet decided what method they will employ, rather than 
the “old hands” who are already committed to some settled 
policy, I will endeaver to briefly and fairly compare them. 
Among the instruments most commonly in use are the wooden 
clams (with or without caustic), cauterization, ligature, torsion, 
scraping, ecraseur and the “ House Castrating Clamp.” There is 
another method I have seen employed upon horses and other 
animals (a barbarous one at best) by charlatans and quacks, that 
of stretching or tearing out the “ spermatic cord,” until it breaks 
somewhere, which of course it will do if sufficient “ main strength 
and stupidness” are applied to it. We know that the great 
testicular artery originates directly from the posterior aorta 
