DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 321 



but it is also apt to produce great weakness and emaciation, 

 and could not be continued for any length of time without 

 danger. Faradization of the spine has in some instances 

 been used with benefit against self-abuse, but this is also 

 likely to be of only temporary benefit; and, so far as I know, 

 there is no sure cure for the evil. In inveterate cases, where 

 the effects of masturbation have extended so far that the ani- 

 mal refuses to notice the opposite sex in heat, nothing re- 

 mains but to castrate him and thus preserve his usefulness 

 for other purposes. 



CKYPTORCHIDS ( "RIDGLINGS, " SO-CALLED). 



In common parlance the appellation of ridgling is given 

 to a stallion in which either one or both testicles have failed 

 to descend into the scrotum. In the cases where one testicle 

 has descended the animal may serve the purposes of a sire 

 and prove as fertile as if both testicles had descended. But 

 the testicle or testicles that fail to descend into the scrotum, 

 and are retained in the abdomen or the groin, are generally 

 small and undeveloped, and now and then atrophied through 

 fibrous or fatty degeneration. As a result of these malposi- 

 tions or morbid change?, cryptorchids have generally been 

 considered to be absolutely sterile, although they were known 

 to have strong sexual desires and enjoy the capacity for 

 copulation and ejaculation. While as a rule the ejaculated 

 fluid is devoid of the fecundating germs, termed spermato- 

 zoae, exceptional instances have occurred where such males 

 have proved fertile, and where consequently the fluid mu&t 

 have contained spermatozose. 



THE BROOD MARE BARRENNESS. 



A mare should not be considered barren because she does 

 not get in foal, even after repeated service by one certain 

 stallion, for it often occurs that a change of stallion proves 

 effective. The causes of barrenness in mares are numerous, 

 and among the most f requent are a phlegmatic temperament, 

 or the reverse; excessive sexual excitement; also, reduced 

 vitality, due to poverty of constitution, overwork, innutri- 

 tious food; or the reverse condition, that of obesity; too 



