GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE AND ABORTION IN CATTLE. 15 



character, with rarely a trace of skeletal stroma or of blood vessels 

 among them. Such structures, it would seem, would be rapidly 

 and completely dissipated by physiologically active tissues as soon 

 as the irritant which has caused them had abated. This view is fully 

 borne out clinically. Under varying conditions the numbers of 

 nodules decrease rapidly. If the vagina is merely kept well douched 

 with warm water and a mild antiseptic, a large percentage of the 

 nodules disappear. If the nodules constitute the basic clinical 

 phenomenon of the malady, it is difficult, considering their structure, 

 to understand why, if the disease disappears, the basic symptom of it 

 should not promptly follow 



It is upon the partial disappearance of the nodules, muco-purulent 

 vulvar discharge, etc., that the allegations of cure appear generally 

 to be based. In other cases, however, the allegation of cure rests upon 

 the swelling and edema caused in the vulvar mucosa by the applica- 

 tion of an alleged remedy, by which the nodules are hidden. It is 

 analogous to certain cures for exostoses on the legs of horses, wherein 

 the neighboring soft tissues become so swollen and edematous from 

 the application of the remedy that the exostosis is no longer apparent. 



Referring to Table 1, in the group of cows 4 years old and over 

 it may be assumed with safety that these animals had had an oppor- 

 tunity to recover spontaneously during a period of probably six 

 years on an average, with the result that 85 per cent still showed 

 the evidences of the disease. If we turn to Table 2, it will be found 

 that, of the 13 per cent marked negative, nearly 40 per cent may have 

 been masked by advanced pregnancy, recent parturition, or pyometra. 

 Considering that other diseases and conditions at times cause the 

 symptoms to be temporarily masked, it is apparent that this group 

 of animals had made no marked advancement toward spontaneous 

 recovery. 



Although continental European veterinary periodicals are well 

 filled with contributions by leading veterinarians recounting the cure 

 of the disease by various remedies, in many cases in the phenomenal 

 time of 10 to 20 days, we have faithfully applied many of these over 

 prolonged periods and have as yet not observed a single cure, 

 evidently, again, because of a variation in the definition of a cure. 



SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE. 



The importance of the granular venereal disease has been variously 

 estimated by different investigators. As shown by Table 1, the dis- 

 ease is so universal that its presence may be made to afford an ex- 

 planation for a great variety of ailments. When there is added to 

 this the fact stated above of the wide divergence of opinion as to the 

 clinical diagnosis of the disease, it naturally follows that different 



