354 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



high-class Guernsey herd which had been tested semi-annu- 

 ally for several years. This cow passed each test satisfac- 

 torily. Each test revealed reactors, which upon slaughter 

 showed recent lesions only. It was evident that lurking 

 somewhere in the herd was a non-reacting spreader of a 

 dangerous type. In making a survey of the genital organs 

 of the herd, with reference to breeding, I designated this 

 animal as the non-reacting spreader. 



When diseases of the genitalia occur, closing the breeding 

 career of an animal, a definite diagnosis is of great im- 

 portance. If tuberculosis is the probable or possible cause 

 of sterility, but can not be clearly diagnosed clinically, 

 slaughter without accurate post-mortem diagnosis is wholly 

 unjustifiable. If a cow is sterile because of genital tuber- 

 culosis, she has almost certainly seriously endangered the 

 bull and other cattle. If a bull becomes disabled for coitus 

 because of genital tuberculosis, it is not enough to send him 

 to the shambles because he can no longer be used for breed- 

 ing. Somewhere there is almost certainly a cow with geni- 

 tal tuberculosis which transmitted the infection to him dur- 

 ing coitus. She is liable to transmit the infection to another 

 bull and is highly dangerous to other cows. The diagnosis 

 of tuberculosis in the bull is therefore highly necessary for 

 the control of the disease in contact animals. For this pur- 

 pose post-mortem is as valuable as clinical diagnosis. 



The control of these dangers evidently depends chiefly 

 upon the more general and accurate diagnosis of genital le- 

 sions in both sexes and the more general adoption of efficient 

 sex hygiene in breeding cattle. The lesions are to be de- 

 tected through two chief agencies — dairy inspection and in- 

 spection of the genitalia in connection with sterility. At 

 present, dairy inspection fails utterly in most cases in rela- 

 tion to genital disorders. Repeatedly I find, in regularly in- 

 spected herds, and even in certified dairies, cows with 

 quarts or gallons of fetid pus in the uterine cavity, large 

 volumes of which are pressed out from time to time while 

 the cows are lying down. Advancement in this field is one 

 of the most urgently needed reforms in dairy inspection. 



