REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 491 



stages the nasal mucosa are extensively ulcerated and discharges a very tenacious 

 muco-purulent product. 



In all cases, except the very mildest, imperfect assimilation and nervous atony 

 are well marked. Drowsiness may be an early symptom, and spiritlessness and de- 

 jection are very common, the two most persistent and controlling desires being 

 appetite and the sexual passion. The Carle horse, wasted to a skeleton and with 

 his penis flaccid and pendulous, and retracted only an inch or two when struck, 

 stands persistently in the corner nearest to some mares in another lot, forgetful of 

 hunger or thirst, yet will eat and drink inordinately when urged by his attendant. 

 The nervous atony is seen especially in the waddling, uncertain gait of the hind 

 limbs, the uncertainty being especially marked on turning, the wounds from inter- 

 fering on the fetlocks and pasterns, and the wasting of the muscles of the hinder 

 extremities. As a rule the hind legs swell considerably in bad cases. 



In the mare the first symptoms are swelling, usually at first on one side of the 

 lips of the vulva and in the upper half, later the lower half and even the clitoris 

 are implicated, the vulvar mucosa is congested, and minute spots of extravasation 

 or exudation appear on this and on the adjacent skin, resulting in the white spots 

 already referred to. There is, besides, an increased desire for the male, not contin- 

 uous, but, according to Mr. Culbertson, lasting three or four days at the first " heat," 

 and eight or ten days at the second. He also contradicts the allegations of an abun- 

 dant muco-purulent discharge (whether in male or female), and I saw no indication 

 of any profuse muco-purulent flow from the generative passages. 



As the disease advances in the mare the swellings extend from the vulva mainly 

 along the lymphatics of the perineum, the mammae, the abdomen, the thighs, the 

 quarters, and elsewhere. These and the local circumscribed swellings are as in the 

 horse. This similarity extends to the inter-maxillary, nasal, muscular, assimilatory, 

 and nervous symptoms. 



Abortions are frequent, or puny ill-developed foals come to maturity, and some 

 show the distinct manifestations of the acute disease in local swellings, sores, and 

 fatal marasmus. In other cases even the diseased mares bring fine vigorous foals 

 to maturity. 



History. A complete history of the outbreak is not yet forthcoming, yet the fol- 

 lowing gives the main facts as I have been able to learn them : 



Before 1884 a Clydesdale stallion was brought from some part farther south to 

 Vernon, Tex. , and sometime later died of a malady believed to have been the vene- 

 real disease. While at Vernon he had been turned into a corral with a number of 

 native mares. How it fared with them does not appear, but as deaths ate common 

 on the open ranges Mr. Culbertson opines that a few dead ponies would lead to no 

 remark. 



From another party, whose name I did not obtain, I learned that Mr. Lemon, the 

 owner of the Vernon ranch where the Clydesdale horse died, brought a lot of mares 

 from that ranch to his place near Clinton, 111., in 1884, that they infected a stallion 

 there, and a number suffered. 



Mr. Harold, of Harold & Culbertson, had a Texas ranch 60 miles south of the 

 Lemon ranch, so that there was ample opportunity for infected mares from the 

 latter joining the herds of the Harold ranch and communicating infection. In 

 April, 1884, Messrs. Harold & Culbertson, of Wapella, 111. , imported 230 Texas horses, 

 among which were 160 to 170 mares from the Harold (Texas) ranch, and the latter 

 were served by Utopia and other Norman stallions belonging to an importation of 

 19 made in January, 1884. No disease was noticed that year in either horses or 

 mares on the farm, so that any manifestation must have been very slight. In 1884 

 these imported stallions served in addition 114 outside mares, of which none were 

 known to have become affected. In this year 3 of the imported stallions were sold 

 to go to Eureka, Peoria, and Nebraska, respectively, and no ill report comes from 

 them. 



In 1885 these stallions served 197 mares, of which 4 at least (2 Texan and 2 home 

 mares) showed the disease in the fall. Mr. Culbertson can not say in which it first 

 appeared. The same year one of these stallions died from an- unknown cause; 2 

 sold to Foley & Seniff , of Wapella, showed the disease later and are now ill, and 1 

 sold to a party in Bloomington. and later to W. R. Carle, also showed the disease 

 and is now in its most advanced stages. Nine mares served this year by the Foley 

 & Seniff horses are now dead. 



In 1886 one of the imported stallions died of the venereal disease, and a second died 

 probably from the same cause. Two stallions sold to go to California are supposed 

 to have continued sound. Harold & Culbertson lost 8 mares from the disease and had 

 others ill, and of 242 services outside his stud some mares are known to have died of 

 the affection, and 3 surviving diseased ones have been seen. The great majority 

 have not been examined. Of 60 mares served this year by the Foley & Seniff horses, 



