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[ 62 ] thirteen years old, the swelling becoming troublesome, and the people in the country not caring to meddle with it, he was brought to London.

Two or three gentlemen of the profession, to whom he was showed, took it for a schirrhous testicle, and advised the extirpation of it; to which the child's friends would not consent.

When he was brought to me, I examined him very carefully, and was satisfied that the tumor, (which was now about as big as a middling chesnut) was not formed by the testicle: but, though I was clear that it was not formed by that gland, yet I could not find any testis on that side.

The swelling was still perfectly void of pain; had a stony, incompressible, hardness; was troublesome to the child when at play or using any brisk exercise, but never gave him any uneasiness when he sat, or stood still. It had all the appearance of being dependent from the spermatic process; but the process, tho' it had neither the look nor the feel of being diseased, was yet too large, and too full for a child of that age, and larger and fuller than that of the other side. The perfect equality and smoothness of the tumor, its extreme, incompressibility and its being perfectly free from pain, even when pressed with some force, were the circumstances which induced me to believe that it was not the testicle; but, tho' I was in my own mind satisfied of that, yet I cannot say that I was by any means clear what it was; and all that I could determine, was, that it certainly ought to be removed; as well on account of the trouble it now gave, and its manifest disposition to increase,