Varicocele (from the Greek, pronounced Var-i-ko-seal, accent on either Var or seal) is a condition of bagging, bunching, bulging or twisting of the veins in the scrotum (bag or testicle sac.) It is most commonly found on the left side of the bag, but sometimes is to be seen on both sides.  Usually the scrotum is bulged out on the side and sometimes hangs very low, so long and twisted are the veins.  To the touch the veins feel like a bunch of angle-worms.  In some cases they can be seen knotted and swollen through the thin skin of the bag.

{Illustration:  Fig. 9.  A VARICOCELE.  Showing how the veins are affected and how they press upon the nerve, duct and artery, and waste the testicle. 1.  Spermatic Artery. 2, 3.  Spermatic Veins. 4.  Spermatic Nerve. 5.  Vas Deferens or Seminal Duct. 6.  Testicle. 7.  Converging Tubes. 8.  Wormy bunch of Veins.}

{Illustration:  Fig. 10.  VARICOCELE, AND INSTRUMENT IN PLACE.  On the right side, the drawing of the instrument is cut away, also the layers of skin and muscle, showing the dilated and knotty veins in the groin, before they reach the scrotum, also the Bell Pad in dotted outline, showing how and where the pressure is properly exerted.  When the veins in the groin are thus affected, we have what is known as +Varicocele of the Cord+.  On the left side, the Cradle and Compressor is shown in place.}

A HIDDEN DANGER.

In cases of Varicocele of the Cord (one of the most dangerous of all forms), the veins in the bag are not affected, the trouble being mostly in the groin (in the canal through which the veins run), where the swollen and knotted veins press upon and seriously injure the cord, preventing the free flow of Vital Fluid, and thereby causing Impotence, Wasting of the Testicles, etc.  A dull, heavy, aching or dragging pain in the groin, back or legs, is about the only symptom.

The great danger of this form of Varicocele lies in the fact that thousands of young men are going about to-day not knowing that they have the disease; not knowing that a persistent evil is nestling in this little canal, gnawing at their vitals, and slowly but surely undermining and destroying their sexual vigor and manhood.

We know this to be so because we are daily being consulted by men of different ages, who, until our physician, in the course of the examination, showed it to them, never suspected its existence.  Many of these men had been “doctoring” for years for seminal weakness and the like, with varying success, never being quite cured, or, if cured, soon relapsing—­all because a Varicocele of the Cord existed unsuspected and therefore untreated.

  {Illustration:  Fig. 11. 
  COMPLETE INSTRUMENT. 
  Showing mobility at points so that it will fit any individual.}

  {Illustration:  Fig. 12. 
  SIDE VIEW. 
  Showing Bell Spring, Pad and Pubic Shield.}