525 



URETHRITIS — GONORRHCEA. 



The same irritation wLicli now and tlien becomes manifest 

 upon tlie exterior, may attack or extend to the interior of 

 the penis; or it may be engendered exclusively within the 

 urethra by causes existing within the canal itself. Owing to 

 almost all our horses being geldings, this affection, like the 

 foregoing is extremely rare in its occurrence — so rare, 

 indeed, in our own country, that, for any systematic account 

 of it, we are forced to borrow from the continent. When 

 accompanied by any discharge, the disease will assume the 

 form oi gonorrhcea : in fact, when running constitutes the only 

 complaint — all inflammation having left — the urethritis 

 becomes, in the nosology of Cullen, a veritable gonorrhoea 

 pura vel benigna, I have seen a well-marked case of this in 

 a dog, but never one in a horse. 



The Causes, according to D'Arboval, are divisible into 

 such as are direct and local, indirect and internal, " The 

 former comprise foreign substances within the canal, and too 

 frequent acts of copulation, especially with a female having 

 vaginitis, or in whom the vagina is small compared to the size 

 of the organ of the male. Among the second class of causes 

 come different irritations of the alimentary canal, such as 

 drenches or balls of cantharides given on occasions to rein- 

 vigorate the stone-horse ; the presence of ascarides within the 

 rectum ; metastasis of irritation ; inflammation in the bladder ; 

 retention of urine. 



'* Symptoms. — It is difficult to detect the beginning of an 

 affection of this kind, and almost impossible to say what 

 amount of pungency or scalding the horse may experience, 

 unless it be great enough to create pain ; and then the 

 animal, while in the act of staling, may be observed to cast 

 looks back at his flank, stamp with his feet, and shake his 

 tail about, and, having finished, to moan and express a good 

 deal of uneasiness, as if he felt a veritable ardor urince. 

 There is no examining the penis unless it be drawn; and to 

 induce a horse to draw, a mare may be shown him ; the 

 orifice of the urethra may then be observed to be red and 



