184 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



the penis emerges from the sheath with more or less rapidity, and 

 increases in volume, in length, and in tension. 



In this condition it is easy to determine the state of the parts and 

 to judge as to their good conformation. This cannot be done during 

 micturition, for the penis is only partly protruded. 



Erection in the gelding is, on the contrary, rare ; the copulative 

 organ is confined to its narrow sheath. If it be not protruded at the 

 time of micturition, the animal urinates into his sheath, an injurious 

 fault, on account of the irritation which the retention of the essentially 

 putrefactive products determines there. In horses carelessly groomed 

 the desiccated sebaceous matter after a time occasions an inflammation 

 of the skin which the simplest hygienic measures could prevent. 



We have sometimes observed melanotic tumors upon the penis. They give 

 rise, by their softening, to ulcerations, from which escapes a blackish, disagreea- 

 ble discharge ; by their volume they also produce compression of the urethra and 

 obstruct the free passage of the urine. 



At other times blood-tumors (hcematoma) exist in the corpus cavernosum, 

 resulting from blows received by the penis during erection, or produced by the 

 efforts of the stallion in mounting. Veritable wounds are occasioned sometimes 

 from these causes, whose prognosis is much more serious because there is always 

 danger from hemorrhage or from resultant complications of gangrene necessi- 

 tating the amputation of the organ. 



Finally, all animals having ulcerations at some point of the penis* should be 

 rejected. These are sometimes the expression of the most serious contagious 

 disease, maladie du colt, or dourine, which is most common in Oriental horses. The 

 ulcerations must not be confounded with the pustules of equine variola, which 

 resemble the former very much, and upon the differential diagnosis of which 

 our distinguished associate, Professor Peuch, has especially insisted. 1 



Paralysis of the penis is peculiar to jaded stallions degenerated from old age. 

 The organ is then not contained in the sheath ; it is said to be pendulous. 



Flabby, infiltrated, swollen, purplish, and cold, it oscillates in every direction 

 during locomotion, and is continually exposed to wounds and contusions. It 

 is necessary then to place the penis in a leather sheath, acting like a suspen- 

 sory ligament; which is maintained in situation by leather straps fastened around 

 the loins. 



2. GENITAL ORGANS OF THE FEMALE. 



A. The Vulva. 



The vulva is the only part of the genital apparatus of the female 

 which directly concerns us in this connection ; most authors have added 

 a description of the mammce, and we will not change the established 

 custom. 



The vulva constitutes the external orifice of the genito-urinary 



1 F. Peuch, Note sur le horse-pox simulant la dourine, in Revue veterinaire, annee 1880, p. 297. 



