a dangerous disease to which oxen and male calves are rendered liable by an improper mode of castration. In some places, and particularly in Herefordshire, the breeders of cattle, when they castrate their calves, open the feretum, take hold of the testicles with their teeth, and tear them out with violence; by which means all the vessels thereto belonging are ruptured. The vesica deferentia, entering by the holes of the transverse and oblique muscles into the abdomen, pass over the ureters in acute angles; at which turnings, by their great length and elastic force, the peritoneum is ruptured; the vesica deferentia are severed from the testicles, and springing back, form a kind of bow from the urethra, where they are united; over the ureters, to the transverse and oblique muscles, and there again unite, where they first entered the abdomen; the part of the gut that is tied is the jejunum, at its turning from the left side to the right, and again from the right to the left, forming right angles under the kidney, and attached to the duplicature of the peritoneum, to which it was united, where the rupture happened. There the bow of the gut hangs over the bow of the vesica deferentia, which, by a sudden motion, or turn of the beast, form a hitch or tie of the string round the bow of the gut (filled with air), similar to what a carter makes on his cart line. This causes a stoppage in the bowels, and brings on a mortification, which, in two days, or four at most, proves fatal. And to this accident is the beast, when castrated as above, liable from the day that he was castrated till the time of his being slaughtered.

The symptoms of the gut-tie are the same as those of an incurable colic, vesicular, or mortification of the bowels. The beast affected with this complaint will kick at its belly, lie down, and groan; it has also a total stoppage in its bowels (except blood and mucus, which it will void in large quantities), and a violent fever, &c. To distinguish with certainty the gut-tie from the colic, &c., the hand and arm of the operator must be oiled, and introduced into the anus, through the rectum, beyond the os pubis, turning the hand down to the transverse and oblique muscles, where the vessels of the testicles enter the abdomen. There the string will be found united to the muscles, and is easily traced to the stricture by the hand, without pain to the beast.

From the general view of the agriculture of the county of Hereford, drawn up by Mr. Clark of Builth, Breconshire, we learn that Mr. Harris, farmer at Wickton, near Llanidloes, had been uncommonly successful in the cure of the gut-tie. That gentleman informs us, that he had cut cattle for this disease from the age of three months to that of nine years; and as it is a matter of great importance, we shall state his method of operating in his own words. The only method of cure (says he) that can be safely ventured upon is, to make a perpendicular incision four inches under the third vertebra of the loins, on the left side, over the paunch or stomach, and introduce the arm to find the part affected; if possible, keep the beast standing by the help of proper assistants. The knife I make use of to sever the string is in the form of a large fish-hook, with an edge on the concave side; it is fixed to a ring, which fits the middle finger, which finger crooks round the back of the knife, the end of the thumb being placed on its edge. The instrument, by being thus held in the hand, is secured from wounding the surrounding intestines; with it I divide the string or strings, and bring out one or both, as circumstances require. Here it is to be observed, that great care must be taken by the operator not to wound or divide the ureters, which would be certain death. I then sew up the divided lips of the peritoneum very close, with a surgeon's needle threaded with strong thread, eight or ten double, sufficiently waxed; I also sew up the skin, leaving a vacancy at the top and bottom of the wound sufficiently wide to introduce a tent of surgeon's tow, spread with common digestive and traumatic balsam; covering the incision with a plaster made of the whites of eggs and wheat flour. The wound, thus treated, and dressed every day, will be well in a fortnight. The medicine I give to remove the stoppage in the three stomachs occasioned by the tic, and to carry off the fever, is four ounces of Glauber's salt, two ounces of cream of tartar, and one ounce of senna, infused in two pounds of boiling water, adding half a pound of olive-oil, and working it off with plenty of gruel, mixed with a large quantity of infusion of mallow and elder-bark. I administer the gruel and infusion for at least two or three days; by which time the beast will be well, will eat his provender, and chew the cud, and will forever be relieved, and remain safe from this fatal disorder.

"The following simple and easy method of castration will effectually prevent the gut-tie. Open the scrotum, loosen out the testicles, and tie the several vessels with a waxed thread or silk; or sear them with a hot iron, to prevent their bleeding, as in the common way of cutting colts. This method can never displace the vessels of the testicles, bladder, kidneys, or intestines; all of which remain covered or attached to the peritoneum, or lining of the abdomen of the beast, which renders it impossible that there should ever be a fracture or tie on the gut."