[348] CASTRATIO.

CASTRATION

Apud antiquos Galli longe alio modo, quem nunc castrabantur. Novissimam enim alvi partem, aut lumbos, aut calcaria candenti ferro inurebant. Ita enim in primis scribit Aristoteles[1]. Castrantur Gallinacei parte novissima suae alvi, quae cum coeunt, concidit. Hanc enim si duobus, aut tribus ferramentis adusseris Capos facies. Varro vero, et Columella calcaria inuri solere tradunt. Gallos castrant, inquit Varro[2], ut sint Capi, cadenti ferro inurentes calcaria ad infima crura usque dum rumpantur, (ignea vi consumantur, Columella[3]) atque extet ulcus. Plinius[4] lumborum, atque imorum crurum meminit, inquiens: Desinunt canere castrati, quod duobus fit modis, lumbis adustis candente ferro, aut imis cruribus. Caeterum eiusmodi inflictum ulcus figulina creta, testibus Varrone, Columella, et Plinio oblinebant.

Among the ancients the roosters were castrated in a way quite different from present-day manner. In fact they cauterized with an incandescent iron the extremity of the belly, or the loins, or the spurs. For Aristotle is among the first authors writing as follows: The roosters are castrated in the extreme part of their abdomen, that one which goes down when they mate – nearby cloaca, underneath uropygium. Then, if you will have cauterized this part with two or three irons you will get capons. But Varro and Columella report that spurs are usually burnt. Varro says: They castrate the roosters, so that they become capons, by burning with an incandescent iron the spurs in the lowest part of the legs until the formers come off, (until they are burnt down by the force of the fire, Columella) and an ulcer results. Pliny mentions the loins and the lower part of the legs, saying: They stop singing when castrated, which happens in two ways, after the loins have been cauterized with an incandescent iron, or the lowest part of the legs have been cauterized. In addition, as Varro, Columella and Pliny report, they smeared the so produced ulcer with potter’s clay.

Nostrae vero villicae[5] testiculos evellunt per posteriora, modico vulnere cultro inflicto. Vulnus autem tantum fit, quantum digito superius ad lumbos sub septo, ubi testes adhaerent, immittendo, et singulis extrahendis sufficit: quibus extractis vulnus filo consuunt, et cinerem inspergunt, tum etiam cristam resecant, ut virilitatem omnem adimant. Sunt qui in cristae abscissae locum calcar e crure exectum inserant, idque {coalescente} <coalito> vulnere {re}crescere dicant{:}<.> Verum qui ex hisce castrationis modis praestet, ignoro, video tamen antiquam illam, cuius Varro, Aristoteles, Columella, Plinius, aliique meminere, non amplius observari: quare suspicandum multos ex inflicto illo vulnere cum ca<n>dente ferro interiisse, uti quandoque ex nostris moriuntur, si erratum aliquod in castratione contingat: quinim<m>o superiori anno 1597. Gallum observavi mox a castratione ita tumuisse, ut pellis pulsata digitis, tympani bellici instar sonum {a}ederet: quod erratum a male consuto vulnere evenerat. In eiuscemodi vero castratione omnino elaborandum est, ut uterque testiculus auferatur, nam si alter relinquatur, cucu<r>rit, canit, et coitum repetit, et minus pinguescit.

In truth our plough-girls pull out the testicles through the posterior area after gave a small wound with a knife. But a wound is made large enough to allow the introduction of a finger into the high part towards the loins beneath the transverse septum, where testicles are clinging, and to draw them one by one: after removed them they sew up the wound with thread and sprinkle ashes, and at the same time cut off the comb in order to remove any mark of virility. Some people insert a spur cut off from the leg in place of the comb which has been chopped off, and they affirm that it lengthens when the wound healed up. In truth I don't know how an advantage could arise from these methods of castration, however it seems to me that that ancient method of castration mentioned by Varro, Aristotle, Columella, Pliny and others, is no longer practiced: then we have to suspect that many subjects died because of that wound inflicted with an incandescent iron, as sometimes some our subjects are dying if something wrong happens during the castration: in fact, last year, 1597, I observed a rooster that soon after the castration started to swell up to such an extent that the skin tapped with fingers gave forth a sound like that of a war drum: this error happened because of a badly made suture of the wound. In truth in this kind of castration we have to proceed in quite accurate way so that both testicles are removed; for if either of them is left the subject does a cock-a-doodle-doo, crows and tries to mate, and fattens up less.

VICTUS. SAGINATIO.

FEEDING - FATTENING

Quae de victu<s> Galli historia scripsimus, aeque Capo competunt, at quae de saginatione, huic, et Gallinis tantum, quas volucres saginare ligur<r>itores ipsi invenere, quo unctius, et lautius, ut Platinae verbis utar, devorarent. Pinguescunt Capi milii farina cum melle<,> praesertim{,} et turundis in cibo datis. Nam {Plinius} <Varro>[6] eo nomine vocat bucceas, quibus farcire, saginareque Gallinas, Anseres, et Capos solemus. Sunt apud Germanos, qui Capos saginant hoc modo: Includunt eos in loco angusto, et e farina milii turundos[7] faciunt, magnitudine fere, et longitudine articuli digiti mediocris: e quibus ab initio circiter denos eis in fauces inferunt, et per aliquot deinceps dies quotidie plures, paulatim aucto numero, qui postea minuitur etiam paulatim. Dandum est autem eis plus minus prout coquunt: concoctio tactu explorata ingluvie animadvertitur. Turundi mox inserendi prius in aquam, aut lac immittuntur, nam sic facilius descendunt, licet interim leniter digitis per collum premendo deduci debeant. In defectu milii furfur, et parum frumentaceae farinae, ex milii etiam parum in turundos redigitur. Sic fere viginti diebus obesantur, sed mero milio quatuordecim. Sunt qui Gallinas, et Capos brevi pinguescere scribant, si cerevisia loco aquae bibenda eis apponatur. De Gallina privatim farcienda in eius historia scripsimus[8]. Videtur autem ratio eadem farciendis Capis convenire. Quare eo lectorem ablegamus.

What I wrote in the account about feeding of the rooster is likewise befitting the capon, but what I wrote about fattening is befitting only the latter and hens, and they have been the gluttons themselves who invented the fattening of these birds, in order to gorge themselves, according to the words of Platina, in a more delicious and sumptuous way. The capons fatten up by using flour of millet with honey, above all also feeding them on mashes. For Varro calls with this name the bites by which we usually cram and fatten hens, geese and capons. Some German people fatten capons as follows: they shut up them in a narrow place and make small bites almost of size and length of the phalanx of a medium-sized finger: at the beginning they ram in their mouth ten of these bites each sitting, and subsequently for some days they are giving quite a lot each day, gradually increasing the number, which later on is gradually decreased too. In fact the bites have to be given more or less according to as they are digested: the progress of the digestion is detected by tactile exploration of the crop. The bites which are about to be given must be first placed in water or milk, for thus they go down more easily, although every now and then have to be helped in going down by gently pressing with fingers along the neck. If the millet is scarce we have to make bites of bran and a little wheat flour as well as a little millet flour. Thus they fatten up within twenty days, but within fourteen with millet only. Some people write that hens and capons fatten up shortly if they are given beer in place of water to drink. I wrote separately about how to fatten a hen when I spoke about it. Really it seems that the same method is befitting the fattening of capons. Therefore I refer the reader to that chapter.

USUS IN CIBO.

USE AS FOOD

Capi quam sint in cibis grati nemo non novit, utpote qui remoto Veneris usu facti sint pinguiores, et salubrioris nutrimenti{:}<.> Unde Platina[9]: Omnium avium laudes, inquit, quantum ad obsonia pertine{n}t[10], una caro Gallinacea comprehendit. Quid enim popinis afferunt reliquae altiles quod non unus Capus in se habeat, sive elixum, sive assum velis? Huius avis patina stomachum iuvat, pectus lenit, vocem sonoram facit, corpus obesat. Haec ille{:}<.>

No one is unaware how capons are pleasant as food, since, having put sex aside, they became more plump and a more healthful food. Hence Platina says: The chicken's flesh alone is holding the praises of all birds as far as food is concerning. For what do other bred fowls provide to inns which one capon does not have, either boiled or roasted? A course of this bird aids the stomach, relieves the spirit, makes the voice sonorous, fattens the body. These his words.