Venereal Disease of Sheep 109 



animal. McFadyean attempted to produce the disease experiment- 

 ally b}- collecting the discharges upon pledgets of cotton, one of 

 which was introduced into the vulva of a ewe, another into that 

 of a cow and a third into the sheath of a wether. 



Though two of these experiments proved negative, in the 

 wether, a swelling of the sheath was apparent two days after the 

 inoculation. This was still further increased on the 4th day and 

 accompanied b)' a slight discharge. The swelling, at this time, 

 was sufficient to make the exposure of the penis impossible. 

 The symptoms continued over a period of about two weeks. On 

 the third daj' there appeared on the skin near the opening of the 

 sheath a small sore, which was covered with a brownish scab. 

 This sore continued to spread around the opening of the sheath. 

 On the fifteenth day after inoculation, two small abscesses had 

 formed on the prepuce near the primary sore ; these ruptured 

 the next day, leaving shallow ulcers. At this time, a third small 

 abscess had formed. All the ulcers were covered later with 

 brownish crusts, after which they began to heal. Attempts to 

 artificially transfer the disease from this animal to another 

 wether and ewe failed. McFadyean did not succeed in isolating 

 any organism which he believed to be the cause of the disease. 

 While both outbreaks here mentioned have been comparativeh' 

 mild in their course, McFadyean remarks that it is worthy of 

 careful observation and that newly purchased rams might well 

 be examined with a reference to this affection before being used 

 for breeding. 



G. H. Williams (Vet. Jour. Vol. XVII, p. 64) records two more 

 outbreaks of this disease. In his first, in a flock of eight eweS 

 and one ram, two ewes and the ram were affected. There was 

 balanitis and ulceration of the penis. He used chinosol and zinc 

 sulphate, in solution, to the parts and they recovered in about 

 two weeks. In his second outbreak, three rams and forty ewes, 

 in a flock of fifty, showed the same symptoms as described by 

 Flock and M'Fadyean. In one ewe, eruptions occurred upon 

 the nostril. In some of his cases, the vulva was greatly swol- 

 len and distorted and, in others, there were exten.sive granu- 

 lations of a dark color, which protruded out through the vulva. 

 The graulations and ulcers were penciled with silver nitrate 

 and the entire parts were washed with a solution of zinc sulphate 

 and chinosol. 



