762 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



The genital organs fail to exhibit the extraordinary 

 changes one would expect to find. 



I made autopsies upon several stallions which had been in- 

 fected for one, two or more years. Aside from the general 

 changes noted above, there occurred in the genitalia of some 

 animals gross lesions not directly attributable to the dourine 

 but apparently the result of secondary infections which had 

 invaded the weakened tissues. 



One very bad case, an imported French draft stallion, 

 showed great enlargement of the scrotum, which was hard 

 and unyielding to the touch. The skin of the scrotum was 

 enormously thickened and pale yellow. The inguinal glands 

 of the right side were the seat of extensive abscesses, open- 

 ing at the upper part of the scrotum. A large abscess, oc- 

 cupying the usual position of the testicle, was filled with 

 dark yellow, hard, cheesy pus, which had pushed the gland 

 from its place up into the inguinal canal. The testicle was 

 small, atrophied, soft, flabby and pale yellow, with the serous 

 covering firmly adherent at every part. The surface of the 

 penis offered no evidence of disease. The urethra contained 

 a small amount of a dirty, purulent secretion; the lining 

 membrane was rough, grayish-yellow, without any appear- 

 ance of ulcers. The seminal vesicles and enlarged portions 

 of vasa deferentia contained thin, grayish, purulent accumu- 

 lations. The left testicle was normal in size, with coverings 

 firmly adherent at every part. No appearance of ulcers was 

 found in the urethra or upon the penis of any of the several 

 stallions examined. 



Investigators have observed inconstant changes in the 

 nervous system, principally injection of the coverings of 

 the brain and spinal cord, softening of the lower part of 

 the cord, and occasional extravasation of fluid into the ven- 

 tricles of the brain. Thanhoffer describes extensive degen- 

 eration of the nuclei of the nerve cells in the spinal cord. 

 The nasal mucous membrane usually shows catarrhal in- 

 flammation. 



Differential Diagnosis. Few contagious diseases of ani- 

 mals have been so confusedly described by veterinary writ- 

 ers. At first there was a very genera] confusion between 



