146 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



SEIiF- ABUSE, OR MASTURBATION. 



Some stallions acquire this vicious habit, stimulating the sexual 

 instinct to the discharge of semen by rubbing the penis against the 

 belly or between the fore limbs. The only remedy is a mechanical 

 one, the fixing of a net under the penis in such fashion as will prevent 

 the extension of the penis, or so prick the organ as to compel the 

 animal to desist through pain. 



MALADIE DU COIT, OR DOURINE. 



This is propagated, like sj'philis, by the act of copulation and affects 

 stallions and mares. It has been long known in northern Africa, 

 Arabia, and Continental Europe. It was imported into Illinois in 1882 

 in a Percheron horse. 



From one to ten dsLys after copulation, or in stallions it may be 

 after some weeks, there is irritation, swelling, and a livid redness of 

 the external organs of generation, sometimes followed bj^ the eruption 

 of small blisters one-fifth of an inch across on the penis, the vulva, 

 clitoris, and vagina, and the consequent rupture of these vesicles and 

 the formation of ulcers or small open sores. Vesicles have not been 

 noticed in this disease in the dry climate of Illinois. In the mare 

 there is frequent contraction of the vulva, urination, and the discharge 

 of a watery and later a thick viscid liquid of a whitish, yellowish, 

 or reddish color, which collects on and soils the tail. The swelling of 

 the vulva increases and decreases alternately, affecting one part more 

 than another and giving a distorted ap)pearance to the opening. The 

 affection of the skin leads to the appearance of circular white spots, 

 which may remain distinct or coalesce into extensive patches which 

 persist for months. This, with the soiled tail, red, swollen, puckered,- 

 and distorted vulva, and an increasing weakness and paralysis of the 

 hind limbs, serves to characterize the affection. The mare rarely 

 breeds, but will take the male and thus propagate the disease. The 

 disease winds up with great emaciation and stupidity and death in 

 four months to two years. In horses which serve few mares there 

 may be only swelling of the sheath for a year, but with frequent 

 copulation the progress is more rapid. The penis may be enlarged, 

 shrunken, or distorted; the testicles are unusually pendent and may 

 be enlarged or wasted and flabby; the skin, as in the mare, shows 

 white spots and patches. Later the penis becomes partially paralyzed 

 and hangs out of the sheath; swelling of the adjacent lymphatic glands 

 (in the groin), and even of distant ones, and of the sldn appears, and 

 the hind limbs become weak and unsteady. In some instances the 

 glands under the jaw swell, and a discharge flows from the nose, as in 

 glanders. In other cases the itching of the skin leads to gnawing and 

 extensive sores. Weakness, emaciation, and stupidity increase until 



