2 Twitch or castration clamp? Our main sources for ancient
methods of castration are Columella’s De re rustica and an
anonymous work on care for equines, referred to as the
Mulomedicina Chironis. Columella described the castration of
calves by destroying the testicles gradually with a piece of
cleft fennel. This has been taken as clamping the scrotum and
spermatic cords between pieces of wood, thereby cutting of the
blood supply, resulting in the slow atrophy of the testicles.
Older bulls received the same treatment, followed by an
operative procedure: the scrotum was incised and the testicles
exposed. The epididymal tissues were removed from the testicles,
but left attached to the spermatic cords and cremaster muscles.
It was believed that haemorrhage was less likely to occur after
this procedure (Adams 1990, 268, 270). The Mulomedicina has
several passages that describe the castration of equines. The
cases show some variety, but all require an operative procedure.
Mulomedicina 726 instructs that to start wi