GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE AND ABORTION IN CATTLE. 53 



immediately following breeding. It is recommended to use for this 

 purpose warm, feebly disinfecting solutions, such as 0.5 per cent 

 bacterol, lysol, cresol compound, or other soapy coal-tar disinfectant. 

 The soapy character tends better to dissolve the mucus in the vagina 

 and cleanse the membrane more efficiently. More recently we have 

 been using 0.25 or 0.5 per cent Lugol's solution, with apparently most 

 excellent results. The solution should be introduced into the vagina 

 at about the normal body temperature, 100° to 105° F. The vagina 

 should be filled, in order that it may be fully dilated, the folds of 

 mucosa obliterated, and the solution brought into contact with every 

 part. It is best introduced by means of a gravity apparatus in the 

 form of a 5-gallon vessel for medium or large herds, armed with a 

 stopcock at the bottom, to which is attached a pure gum horse stom- 

 ach tube. The vessel should then be suspended upon a manure or 

 food track, or upon a special wire track by means of a pulley, so that 

 it may be easily moved along behind the row of cows. 



The horse stomach tube is introduced through the vulva into the 

 vagina, and the fluid is allowed to enter the vagina by gravity. 



The bull is to be handled in the same manner. The solution should 

 be applied before and after each service by a similar, though smaller, 

 gravity apparatus with a pure gum horse catheter for introduction 

 into the sheath. While the fluid is passing into the sheath, the opera- 

 tor should prevent its escape by pressure upon the outlet until every 

 part is well dilated and all mucous folds obliterated, so that the solu- 

 tion comes into contact with every portion of the mucous membrane. 



The cleansing and disinfection of the genital organs of dairy cows 

 should have a more important place in dairying than the prevention 

 of abortion and sterility alone. Clean milk is well-nigh impossible 

 from cows having vulvo-vaginal discharges which soil the tail, but- 

 tocks, and thighs. With the wide distribution of the granular vene- 

 real disease, as we have pointed out, a vulvar discharge from young 

 cows is the rule, and so uniform a rule that it is commonly regarded as 

 normal, although such discharges are not usually observed in other 

 domestic animals. We accordingly hold that the disinfection of the 

 vaginae of dairy cows at intervals of three or four days should be made 

 a rule of practice by dairymen who desire to be known as producing 

 clean milk, while our experience has amply convinced us that the 

 plan is economically sound in keeping the cows in better health. 



Immediately after cows have calved or aborted, if there be retained 

 placenta or uterine discharge, the uterine cavity should be at once 

 carefully disinfected and the disinfection repeated once or twice daily 

 so long as the cervical canal is freely open, in order to overcome the 

 infection present and thereby do all possible to prevent sterility and 

 to avoid abortion during the next pregnancy. 



