The Dressing and Bandage.
The Dressing may be prepar'd with a Linnen-Tent, soft and blunt, of a sufficient thickness and length, to hinder the Intestines from re-entring into the Rings by their Impulsion, a Thread being ty'd thereto, to draw it out as occasion serves. Then Pledgets are to be put into the Wound, after they have been dipt in a good Digestive, such as Turpentine with the Yolk of an Egg, applying at the same time a Plaister, a Bolster of a Triangular Figure, and the Bandage call'd Spica, which is made much after the same manner as that which is us'd in the Fracture of the Clavicle.
Of the compleat Hernia or Rupture.
It happens when the Intestinal Parts fall into the Scrotum in Men, or into the bottom of the Lips of the Matrix in Women. To perform this Operation, the Patient must be laid upon his Back, as in the Bubonocele, and the Incision carry'd on after the same manner; which is to
be made in the Scrotum, tearing off the Membranes to the Intestine. Then a Search will be requisite, to observe whether any parts stick to the Testicle; if the Caul doth so, it must be taken off, leaving a little Piece on the Testicle; but if it be the Intestine, so that those Parts cannot be separated without hurting one of 'em, it is more expedient to impair the Testicle than the Intestine. If the Caul be corrupted, it must be cut to the sound Part, and the Wound is to be dress'd with Pledgets, Bolsters, and the Bandage Spica; as in the Bubonocele.
C H A P. XIV.
Of the Operation of Castration.
The Mortification or the Sarcocele of the Testicles, gives occasion to this Operation; to perform which, the Patient must be laid upon his Back, with his Buttocks higher than his Head, his Legs being kept open, and the Skin of the Scrotum taken up, one end of which is to be held by a Servant, and the other by the Surgeon, who having made a longitudinal Incision therein, or from the top to the bottom, slips off the Flesh of the Dartos which covers the Testicle, binds up the Vessels that lie between the Rings and the Tumour, and cuts 'em off a Fingers breadth beneath the Ligature: But care must be taken to avoid tying the Spermatick Vessels too hard, for fear of a Convulsion, and
to let one end of the Thread pass without the Wound. If an Excrescence of Flesh stick to the Testicle, and it be moveable or loose, it is requisite to take it off neatly, leaving a small Piece of it on the Testicle; and if any considerable Vessels appear in the Tumour, they must be bound before they are cut.