abortion infection, he alludes to the i'aet that he may act as a 

 " meclianical carrier of various disease germs from an infected to 

 a healthy cow." Carpenter (9) working on the female genital tract, 

 comes to the conclusion that, in all probability, the genital organs 

 are normally free from bacteria. Barney (13) quoting Huet finds 

 that bacteria may be present in the seminal vesicles of healthy 

 animals (horses, cattle, pigs, and laboratory animals). This, he 

 states, corresponds with the well recognized ilndings in other parts 

 of the genito-urinary tract, not only in animals, but in man. He 

 (Huet) has further found that in animals dying of acute septi- 

 cemia, the specific organism (anthrax, i)neumococcus) is to be 

 found in the vesicular secretions. Furthermore it was definitely 

 shown that an infection could be transmitted to the female during 

 the act of copulation. 



Williams, AV. L. (14), calls attention to the lack of vet- 

 erinary literature relating to the pathology and bacteriology 

 of the male genital tract, except as related to infection with 

 Bad. ahortum. Infection with other types of bacteria is empha- 

 sized, the clinical recognition of such, with the accompanying 

 pathological changes, and of the numerous phenomena involved in 

 tlie process of reproduction in the male. The semen and its essen- 

 tial germinal elements are taken up with reference to the entire 

 lack of study devoted to them, and some of the abnormal changes 

 are described. In a later contribution (15), he takes up the part 

 played by the bull in the dissemination of genital infections and 

 .states: " Clinical studies now indicate Avitli great clearness that 

 the bull is an active spreader of that group of genital infections 

 which cause sterility, abortion, and related phenomena." 



Williams, W. W. (16) studied the semen with reference to steril- 

 ity, emphasizing the importance af its examination in the diag- 

 nosis, giving methods for collecting samples, staining' of sperms, 

 and some of the abnormalities encountered. The work is funda- 

 mental, and shouhl be of great practical impoi-taiice to all interested 

 in the proljlem. In a later paper (17), he brings out a more ex- 

 tended discussion of the question. He concludes that the clinical 

 examination is of vital importance. v.r\(\ that the efficiency of the 

 semen depends not only upon its physical properties Init upon thc- 

 number of spermatozoa that are motile, the degree of motility, 

 degree of obligospermia, and the percentage of imperfect spermato- 

 zoa, either deformed or immature. Of forty bulls examined, he 

 finds that twenty, or fifty per cent, sliowed lessened fertility, and 

 others, aside from this, showed minor clianges in the genital 

 organs or semen. The same author suliseciuently takes up the sub- 

 ject of reproduction from the viewpoint of l)oth sexes, but emplui- 

 sizing infection in the male, and the frequency with which lowered 

 A'itality of the germinal cells occurs. Hopper (18) states: "A 

 diseased bull may manifest non-fertility or decreased potency in 

 diiTerent ways — by repeated service to apparently normal females 

 without conception, by a high a])ortion rate in females that have 

 been apparently normal, by characteristic infections following! the 



