1 82 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



what extent such an opinion is based on experience and to 

 what extent, upon legend. Personally I have not observed 

 orchitis in any domestic animal where it was plainly due to 

 traumatism except in one instance of an abattoir bull which 

 had suffered from gunshot wound in the scrotum, two of the 

 shot having lodged, one in the epididymis and the other in 

 the testicle. This case is illustrated in Fig. 59a. 



Clnically orchitis is most common in the stallion, in which 

 animal the testicles are unusually well protected against 

 traumatism when compared with those of other domestic 

 animals. The pendent testicles of ruminants are exposed 

 preeminently to mechanical injury. In the ram and the he- 

 goat, the testicles hang so low that in moving rapidly over 

 rough ground, especially where there are stumps and high- 

 projecting stones, the testicles frequently come in rather vio- 

 lent contact with these foreign objects. In all ruminants 

 the pendent testicles are thrown against the thighs repeat- 

 edly whenever the animal is in rapid locomotion, and yet I 

 have not observed orchitis as a result of this. In trotting 

 stallions there is a general belief that, unless a suspensorium 

 is used, orchitis may result from the constant striking of 

 the testicles against the thighs during rapid locomotion, 

 but I find nothing in veterinary literature to indicate that 

 orchitis arises in this way. 



While it must be freely admitted that orchitis may arise 

 in any animal because of traumatism, careful clinical ex- 

 amination would indicate that the affection is very rare. 

 It is difficult to determine clearly just what type of orchitis 

 a mechanical injury may induce. It cannot by any con- 

 ceivable means cause an abscess of the testicle unless there 

 is first a destructive injury to the skin or a penetrant wound 

 so that the trauma serves merely to open an avenue of in- 

 fection rather than to directly cause orchitis. In Chapter 

 XIV of this treatise, the question of orchitis as a result of 

 infection is discussed at some length. By referring to this 

 chapter, it will be observed that in nearly all cases of orchi- 

 tis and epididymitis the disease is bilateral, which would in- 

 dicate very strongly that it is due to some systemic infection 



