Genital Infections of Cattle in Relation to Human Health 71 1 



to as many pints of tarry blood or of pus in the vagina or 

 uterus. The uterus, which should at this time be firmly con- 

 tracted and so involuted that it may be picked up per rectum 

 and held in the hollow of the hand, is instead a great flaccid 

 organ, hemorrhagic and paretic. There is inevitably a dis- 

 charge, but this is so common that dairymen and dairy in- 

 spectors call it "normal". Portions of these disease excre- 

 tions flow down the tail and thighs, and upon the udder and 

 teats. The ordinary washing of the udder, as practiced in 

 certified dairies, does not assure the exclusion of such in- 

 fections from the milk. This is sharply emphasized by the 

 clinical fact that mammary infection during the puerperal 

 period is commonest in the posterior quarters of the udder, 

 which are most exposed to genital discharges, and that, the 

 more intense the genital infection (e. g. retained fetal mem- 

 branes), the more probable is mammary infection. So far 

 as I am aware, no technical study has been made of the bac- 

 teriology of intra-mammary milk from cows with intense 

 genital infection in comparison with milk from cows with 

 typically healthy genitalia. It is logical to assume, until we 

 have more definite knowledge, that intra-mammary milk 

 contains as a rule more bacteria in a cow with severe genital 

 infection than in one which is healthy. By any practical 

 method of milking there is inevitably added a variable pro- 

 portion of the genital discharges which adhere to the exte- 

 rior of the udder and adjacent regions. The inevitable bac- 

 terial contamination of milk from genital discharges is not 

 confined to the puerperal period. I have evacuated quarts 

 and gallons of fetid pus from the uteri of cows in certified 

 dairies, when the history indicated undeniably that the ex- 

 cessively fetid pyometra had existed for more than a year 

 and the cows had been repeatedly inspected and passed by 

 the dairy inspectors representing great cities. Much of the 

 present "skin-deep" dairy inspection is a farce, the price of 

 which, in human health, can not be accurately computed. 



The entire field of the genital diseases of cattle offers a 

 priceless opportunity for the study and advancement of hu- 

 man health. The genitalia of cattle offer the most available 



