VARIETIES AND NEWS. 
109 
the testicle is floating in the abdominal cavity ; in the second, it is 
partly engaged in the inguinal canal. 
This distinction is not without importance ; in the first case, the 
organs are floating in the abdomen, suspended by a fold of the perito¬ 
neum ; they are soft, small, of a modified texture, and the produce of 
their secretion is free from spermatozoids; in the second, the testicle 
possesses all the conditions of those of the active animal, and, besides, 
the position of the testicles will also be of a great importance, as it will 
decide of the possibility and of the prognosis of the operation. 
Mr. Vanhaelst describes the operation as follows: The animal being 
properly secured, upon the lateral parts of the scrotum, at the point, 
where, in normal condition, the testicle would be found, a longitudinal 
incision is made, long enough to allow the introduction of the hand; 
after that incision, the layer of yellow elastic tissue following, and situ¬ 
ated under the skin, is also divided; then the hand is introduced into 
the opening, the fingers being brought together, as when the hand is 
introduced into the rectum or the vagina; they are pushed towards the 
inguinal ring, lacerating the cellular tissue. Reaching the ring, the in¬ 
dex is stretched and passed between the testicle and the canal proper, 
detached from its attachments, and by a slow but steady pulling is 
brought outside of the sac ; a ligature is passed around the cord, which 
is firmly secured ; the edges of the skin are then brought together, and 
the animal allowed to get up. 
After the fourth day the ligatures of the skin are cut off; that 
which was applied upon the cord soon drops off carrying along the tes- > 
tide, the suppuration is established, and the case progresses as usual. 
Instead of ligature, if possible and if the cord allows it, an ordinary 
clam is applied, and thus is the operation transformed as one on a 
normal animal. 
Gourdon mentions another mode, which consists to look for the 
testicle into the abdomen by an incision made in front of the inguinal 
ring, on the sides of the sheath, and including all the abdominal walls; 
but too dangerous in its sequelae it would scarcely be put in practice, 
except in case of experiment. 
At last the Reciieil de Meaecine Veterinaive, of July, 1874, published 
a description of the modus operandi of a Mr. Parret, who had made a 
specialty of the operation. The principal variety of the manipulations 
is that when the testicle is not found in the inguinal canal, the operator, 
whose hands have been first carefully oiled, pushes through the superior 
