DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 349 



hybridity, which in male and female alike usually entails 

 sterility. 



The treatment of the majority of these conditions will be 

 found dealt with in other parts of this work, so that it is 

 only necessary here to name them as causes. Some, how- 

 ever, must be specially referred to in this place. Stallions 

 with undescended testicles are beyond the reach of medicine 

 and should be castrated and devoted to other uses. Indu- 

 rated testicles may sometimes be remedied in the early stages 

 by smearing with a weak iodine ointment daily for a length 

 of time and at the same time invigorating the system by lib- 

 eral feeding and judicious work. Fatty degeneration is best 

 met by an albuminoid diet (wheat bran, cotton-seed meal, 

 rape cake) and constant, well-regulated work. Saccharine, 

 starchy and fatty food (potatoes, wheat, corn, etc.) are to 

 be specially avoided. In the mare one diseased and irritable 

 ovary should be removed to do away with the resulting ex- 

 citability of the remainder of the generative organs. An 

 irritable womb, with frequent straining and the ejection of 

 a profuse secretion, may sometimes be corrected by a re- 

 stricted diet and full but well-regulated work. Even fatigue 

 will act beneficially in some such cases; hence the practice of 

 the Arab riding his mare to exhaustion just before service 

 The perspiration in such a case, like the action of a purgative 

 or the abstraction of blood just before service, benefits by ren- 

 dering the blood vessels less full, by lessening secretion in 

 the womb and elsewhere, and thus counteracting the ten- 

 dency to the ejection and loss of semen. If these means are 

 ineffectual a full dose of camphor (two drachms) or of salacin 

 may at times assist. Low condition and anaemia demands 

 just the opposite kind of treatment rich, nourishing, albu- 

 minoid food, bitter tonics (gentian), sunshine, gentle exer- 

 cise, liberal grooming and supporting treatment generally 

 are here in order. Spasmodic closure of the neck of the 

 womb is common and is easily remedied in the mare by dila- 

 tation with the fingers. 



The hand, smeared with belladonna ointment and with 

 the fingers drawn into the form of a cone, is introduced 

 through the vagina until the projecting, rounded neck of 



