CASTRATION OF THE STALLION. 
63 
turning of the forceps, the spermatic artery alone remaining un¬ 
broken till it is drawn out as small as a piece of thread. The 
operation does not appear to be a painful one, nor to be suc¬ 
ceeded, when rupture ensues, by any alarming hemorrhage. 
Scraping the cord is practiced to a limited extent in the East, 
but in the West it is a very common mode of castration upon the 
plains, where droves of ycung horses are caught and submitted to 
this process, and immediately allowed their liberty, being given 
no after care or confinement. The operation is simple and ap¬ 
parently safe. After the testicle is exposed, the vascular cord is 
scraped with a rough-edged knife until it is divided, or a thimble 
with a flat edge is sometimes employed for the same purpose* 
Another mode is to spread out the cord, thus elevating the artery, 
and divide all below with the scalpel, leaving nothing but the 
artery, which is then safely divided by the same process. 
At the first meeting and organization of the United Scates 
Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. R. Jennings exhibited the 
ecraseur , for castrating horses, a French invention introduced by 
him for that purpose into the United States in 1852, but not 
then favorably received by stock owners. He explained its ad¬ 
vantages and working, but it was not at that time appreciated by 
members of the convention. Since that time the instrument has 
come into much more general use, and is the only instrument, 
with the exception of the “ House clamp,” employed in castration 
without restraint, by such bold and skilful operators as Miles, 
Miller, and the late C. D. House, of New York, the latter one of 
the most ingenious and practical men who ever made a specialty 
of equine dentistry and castration. 
The ecraseur is now largely used by the regular profession, 
and with almost uniformly good results where its principles are 
correctly understood and properly applied. These I believe to 
consist of slowly and steadily turning the instrument, by which 
the internal membrane of the artery is broken and forms a cul- 
de-sac, containing the clot, to which it afterwards adheres through 
the effusion of plastic lymph. If this precaution is taken, I be¬ 
lieve it to be a safe and humane mode of operating, although I 
have often seen profuse hemorrhage ensue from the rapid and 
