The Nodular Venereal Disease 283 



2. The Nodular Venereal Disease. Infectious Vagi- 

 nitis. Vaginitis Verrucosa, Metritis et Vaginitis 

 Infectiosus. Ansteckende Scheidenkatarrh, Etc. 

 The classification of the nodular venereal disease as a 

 specific infectious malady is not free from objection. Isep- 

 poni of Chur (Switzerland) was the first writer to bring 

 the disease (or the lesions) notably before the veterinary 

 profession as a distinct, specific malady. He was promptly 

 followed by numerous veterinarians. His views were en- 

 dorsed first by his Swiss colleagues, and later by Austrian, 

 German, French and other Continental European veterina- 

 rians. Leading European authors — Friedberger and Froh- 

 ner, Hutyra and Marek, and others — assigned it a definite 

 place amongst infectious diseases of cattle. The lesions 

 characterizing the condition are so nearly universal that, 

 soon after the publication of Isepponi's observations, a few 

 veterinarians, instead of considering it specific, held that it 

 is in fact a physiologic condition and that the absence of 

 the granules or nodules indicates disease. The dissenters 

 were not men of authority or prominence in the profession. 

 The vast majority of veterinarians in the front rank ac- 

 cepted and supported the teachings of Isepponi. 



The prominence of the nodular venereal disease was 

 based chiefly upon the belief of Isepponi and his followers 

 that it was responsible for most, or much, of the sterility 

 and abortion of cattle. Although sterility and abortion have 

 been recognized throughout history as a cause of serious 

 losses among animals, the interferences with reproduction 

 had reached a phase in the time of Isepponi where they 

 were causing greatly increased concern to individuals and 

 to the state. The views regarding the causes of abortion 

 were chaotic and the people were so anxious to find some 

 rallying point that they eagerly grasped the first plausible 

 explanation, hoping that behind the recognition of the 

 cause lay a remedy. For about ten years the belief in the 

 importance of the nodular venereal disease spread. This 

 belief rested upon clinical observations. It was held, by 

 those who studied the problem, that the amount of sterility 



