Dourine. 527 



advanced, the patient stubs his toes and sways in walking, and 

 finally drops unable to rise ; or he stands with hind legs straddled 

 and semi-bent, and largely oblivious of all around him. He may 

 be too stupid to eat unless the food is placed in his mouth, and 

 yet the neigh of another horse or a mare may draw forth a feeble 

 retort, as if the deranged generic instincts remained. Swelling, 

 or even abscess of the lymph glands, axillary, submaxillary or 

 inguinal, is usually present, and mucopurulent discharge with 

 ulceration of the nose or eyes is not uncommon. The joints 

 crack when moved and fractures are common. 



The duration of the disease is two or three months, the progress 

 being more rapid in winter. 



Mare. Vulvar swelling eight or nine days after service, with 

 ejection of urine in jets, contraction of the vulva, redness, swell- 

 ing and erection of the clitoris, and a mucopurulent discharge are 

 marked symptoms. European observers note nodules, vesicles 

 and ulcers on the mucosa and adjacent skin, but these were not 

 observed in the American cases (Williams). Yet later they 

 showed the characteristic white spots. Switching of the tail, 

 stamping of the hind feet and painful straining to urinate are 

 followed in certain cases by ejection of the urine forcibly in jets 

 or in small dribblets. The catarrhal discharge is at first watery, 

 but later becomes viscid, sticky and white, yellow or grayish, or 

 even red. It mats together the hair of the tail and thighs, and 

 putrifies, exhaling a repulsive odor. The swelling involves the 

 space between the thighs and often implicates the mammary 

 glands and even the floor of the abdomen. The inguinal glands 

 are often involved, and hyperplasias with degenerations and even 

 abscesses may appear in this region. As in the stallions the local 

 lesions may have periods of advance and subsidence, and in favor- 

 able cases, that are not again served, there may seem to be a tem- 

 porary recovery. The mare, however, remains infecting, and if 

 served the local disease is at once roused into activity. The but- 

 ton-like skin eruptions appears on the quarter as already noticed 

 of the horse and in grave cases may caseate or suppurate and 

 burst, forming an indolent and intractable sore. The dark skin 

 of the vulva and perineum becomes marked by white spots or by 

 irregular patches caused by the confluence of several such spots, 

 which for ordinary breeds of horses are highly characteristic of 



