Cystic Degeneration of the Ovisacs 403 



comes badly befouled with feces and litter and greatly in- 

 fected, so that the mucous membrane is much swollen and 

 usually soft. 



The affection generally appears without warning. Al- 

 brechtsen contends that it is one of the results of metritis 

 or pyometra. This I can not verify. It occurs in heifers 

 which are not known to have been pregnant and in which 

 no history of metritis is obtainable. Possibly it existed un- 

 observed, as metritis so frequently does. I have also seen 

 the disease of a severe type within fifteen days after an ap- 

 parently normal parturition without clinical manifestations 

 of metritis. I believe it more logical to reverse this belief 

 and attribute the endometritis regularly accompanying 

 nymphomania to the atony due to the ovarian disease. In 

 severe cases the sinking of the pelvic ligaments occurs 

 within a few days after the commencement of the nympho- 

 mania ; in the milder cases the sinking of the ligaments may 

 not be notable until after several or many weeks have 

 elapsed. 



The disease is extremely chronic and shows scant ten- 

 dency to spontaneous recovery. Just how long it may con- 

 tinue is quite unknown. I have seen cases where the nymph- 

 omania has existed constantly for from four to five years. 

 By that time the patience of the breeder generally becomes 

 exhausted and the animal is destroyed. Apparently nymph- 

 omania never directly causes the death of the patient but, 

 indirectly, by destroying the vigor and tone, may render 

 the animal an easy prey to intercurrent maladies. 



Next to rabies, nymphomania in cows is the most inter- 

 esting scientifically, and most important economically 

 amongst the diseases of animals characterized by notable 

 mental aberration. It strikes most frequently the greatest 

 dairy cows, and all too often ruins them, thus causing a 

 severe economic loss to the owner and, worst of all, strik- 

 ing down the very cows which, by their potential ability to 

 yield great quantities of milk and butter and to grow prog- 

 eny equally capable, are of greatest value to the state. 



The prognosis is unfavorable. Numerous writers have 



