Spermato- Cystitis 389 



tended period. Then without cause there develops, gener- 

 ally very gradually, an increasing degree of infertility. An 

 increasingly large percentage of the cows which he serves 

 fail to conceive. The bull may be apparently vigorous, both 

 physically and sexually, or there may be hesitancy or diffi- 

 culty in coitus. It is not known, however, that the epidid- 

 ymitis causes this hesitancy or difficulty, which may be due, 

 so far as is now known, to other lesions existing at the same 

 time. If the semen of such a bull is examined, the sperma- 

 tozoa are found largely or wholly dead. Upon physical ex- 

 amination, one or both epididymes are found to be swollen 

 and tender. As in the indurated abscess of the epididymis 

 in the young animal, so in the adult bull, the inflammation 

 is largely concentrated in the globus minor. The swelling 

 is hard and painful to the touch. The cause of such epidid- 

 ymitis is unknown, beyond the fact that it is evidently due 

 to infection. No studies have been made regarding the 

 character of the infection. It probably differs greatly in 

 different individuals. It is not generally pyogenic, so far 

 as yet determined. 



So far as known, there is no hope for recovery and noth- 

 ing to advise in the way of treatment. It is barely possible 

 that in some cases one might achieve results by the removal 

 of the diseased gland. However, there is the constant dan- 

 ger that the other gland is similarly, although not palpably 

 infected, in which case the removal of one gland would be 

 of no avail. In other cases I have found clinically that the 

 seminal vesicle was at the same time similarly inflamed, so 

 that no good could be expected from removing the diseased 

 epididymis and testicle while the diseased seminal vesicle 

 was allowed to remain. The only hope, therefore, in remov- 

 ing the one gland is that the opposite gland is sound and 

 that there is no disease of the seminal vesicle or other 

 glands about the pelvic urethra. 



C. Infections of the Glands of the Pelvic Urethra 



1. Spermato-Cystitis. Semino-Vesiculitis 



Semino-vesiculitis, or inflammation of the seminal vesi- 

 cles, has attracted scant attention in bulls or other breeding 



