ped the circulation, cuts through
the cord, half an inch below the ligature, and removes the testicle. He,
however, who has any feeling for the poor animal on which he is
operating, considers that the only use of the ligature is to compress
the blood-vessels and prevent after-hemorrhage, and, therefore, saves a
great deal of unnecessary torture by including them alone in the
ligature, and afterwards dividing the rest of the cord. The other
testicle is proceeded with in the same way and the operation is
complete. The length of the cord should be so contrived that it will
immediately retract, or be drawn back, into the scrotum, but not higher,
while the ends of the string hang out through the wound. In the course
of about a week, the strings will usually drop off, and the wounds will
speedily heal. There will rarely be any occasion to make any
application to the scrotum, except fomentation of it, if much swelling
should ensue.

A few, whose practice cannot be justified, seize the testicle as soon as
it escapes from the bag, and, pulling violently, break the cord and tear
it out. It is certain that when a blood-vessel is thus ruptured, it
forcibly contracts, and very little bleeding follows; but if the cord
breaks high up, and retracts into the belly, considerable inflammation
has occasionally ensued, and the beast has been lost.

The application of _torsion_--or the twisting of the arteries by a pair
of forceps which will firmly grasp them--has, in a great degree,
superseded every other mode of castration, both in the larger and the
smaller domesticated animals. The spermatic artery is exposed, and
seized with the forceps, which are then closed by a very simple
mechanical contrivance; the vessel is drawn a little out from its
surrounding tissue, the forceps are turned around seven or eight times,
and the vessel liberated. It will be found to be perfectly closed; a
small knot will have formed on its extremity; it will retract into the
surrounding surface, and not a drop more of blood will flow from it; the
cord may then be divided, and the bleeding from any little vessel
arrested in the same way. Neither the application of the hot iron, nor
of the wooden clamps, whether with or without caustic, can be necessary
in the castration of the calf.

A new instrument was introduced in France, some few years since, for
this purpose, called the _acraseur_,--so constructed as to throw a chain
over the cord, which is wound up by me