26 BUKEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



AYhere the sensibility" of a part is increased the condition is known 

 as hypcrasthesia, and where it is lost — that is, where there is no feeling 

 or knowledge of pain — the condition is known as anasthesia. The 

 former usually ac(-onipanies some chronic diseases of the spinal cord or 

 the earlier stages of irritation of a nerve trunk, Hypcrasthesia is 

 difficult to detect in a nervous, irritable animal, and sometimes even in 

 a horse of less sensitive temperament. An irritable, sensitive spot may 

 be found surrounded by skin that is not sensitive to pressure. This is 

 sometimes a s^miptom of beginning- of inflammation of the brain. 

 Anasthesia occurs in connection with cerebral and spinal paralysis, 

 section of a nerve trunk leading to apart, in severe mental depression, 

 and in narcotic poisoning. 



URINARY AND SEXUAI. ORGANS. 



In considering the examination of the urinary and sexual organs 

 we may consider, at the beginning, a false impi'ession that prevails to 

 an astonishing extent. Many horsemen are in the habit of pressing 

 upon the back of a horse over the loins or of sliding the ends of the 

 fingers along on either side of the median line of this region. If the 

 horse depresses his back it is at once said "his kidneys arc weak." 

 Nothing could be more absurd or further from the truth. Any 

 health}" horse — any horse with normal sensation and with a normally 

 flexible back — will cause it to sink when manipulated in this way. If 

 the kidneys are inflamed and sensitive, the back is held more rigidly 

 and is not depressed under this pressure. 



To examine the kidncj^s b}^ pressui-e the pressure should be brought 

 to bear over these organs. The kidneys lie beneath the ends of the 

 transverse processes of the vertcbra3 of the loins and beneath the hind- 

 most ribs. If the kidneys are acutely inflamed and especially sensitive, 

 pressure or light blows applied here may cause the horse to shrink. 



The physical examination of the sexual and generative oigans is 

 made in large part through the rectum, and this portion of the exami- 

 nation should be carried out by a veterinarian onl}". By this means 

 it is possible to discover or locate cysts of the kidneys, urinary 

 calculi in the ureters, bladder, or upper urethra, malformations, and 

 acute inflammations accompanied by pain. The external genital organs 

 are swollen, discolored, or show a discharge as a result of local disease 

 or from disease higher in the tract. 



The manner of urinating is sometimes of considerable diagnostic 

 importance. Painful urination is shown by frequent attempts, during 

 which but a small quantity of urine is passed; by groaning, by con- 

 strained attitude, etc. This condition comes from inflammation of the 

 bladder or urethra, urinarj- calculi (stones of the bladder or urethra), 

 hemorrhage, tumors, bruises, etc. The urine is retained from spasms 

 of the nmsclc at the neck of the bladder, from calculi, infl;uumatory 

 growths, tumors, and paralysis of the bladder. 



