DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 341 



red, swollen, puckered and distorted vulva, and an increas- 

 ing weakness and paralysis of the hind limbs, serve to char- 

 acterize 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 

 iaay be only swelling of the sheath for a year, but with fre- 

 quent copulation the progress is more rapid. The penis 

 may be enlarged, shrunken, or distorted ; the testicles are 

 unusually pendant 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 skin, ap- 

 pear, 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, ema- 

 ciation and stupidity increase until death, in fatal cases, yet 

 the sexual desire does not seem to fail. A stallion without 

 sense to eat except when food was put into his mouth would 

 still neigh and seek to follow mares. In mild cases an. ap- 

 parent recovery may ensue, and through such animals the 

 disease is propagated to new localities to be roused into 

 activity and extension under the stimulus of service. The 

 diseased nerve centers are the seat of cryptogamic growths. 

 (Thannhoffer.) 



Treatment of the malady has proved eminently unsatis- 

 factory. It belongs to the purely contagious diseases and 

 should be stamped out by the remorseless slaughter or cas- 

 tration of every horse or mare that has had sexual congress 

 with a diseased animal. A provision for Government in- 

 demnity for the animals so destroyed or castrated and a se- 

 vere penalty for putting any such animal to breeding would 

 serve as effectual accessory resorts. 



CASTRATION OP STALLIONS. 



This is usually done at one year old, but may be accom- 

 plished at a few weeks old at the expense of an imperfect de- 

 velopment of the fore parts. The simplicity and safety of 



