76o Diseases of the Genital Organs 



The imperfect control may appear in one or both hind 

 limbs or may alternate between the two, and is subject to 

 great variation from day to day. In the main the paresis 

 reminds one of locomotor ataxia of man. Sometimes the 

 partial paralysis is of a somewhat spasmodic nature, faintly 

 resembling stringhalt. At times there may be swelling 

 about an articulation and the animal may seem to be lame 

 in the joint. As the disease advances, the paresis tends to 

 increase until there is such complete paralysis that the ani- 

 mal is unable to rise when down. When the patient becomes 

 unable to rise, a fatal termination usually occurs in the 

 course of a few days to several weeks, largely hastened by 

 the decubitis and the accompanying complications. In other 

 cases, after being recumbent for days or having had to be 

 assisted in rising for weeks, the animal improves and event- 

 ually apparently recovers . 



With, and even before, the advent of the paretic symptoms, 

 there appears a very rapid emaciation, which is especially 

 prominent in the posterior parts of the body. The emacia- 

 tion is rendered especially noticeable from the fact that it 

 occurs in spite of a good appetite, and the allowance of 

 abundant food with apparently good digestion. It seems 

 that both the paralysis and the emaciation are largely de- 

 pendent upon changes taking place within the spinal cord 

 and that these symptoms naturally become most marked 

 in those portions of the body posterior to the locality in the 

 cord where the chief destruction has occurred. The symp- 

 toms of the disturbances of the nervous system are not con- 

 fined to any portion of the body, and there is frequently ob- 

 served a paralysis of an ear or eyelid or of the lips or nose. 

 In the stallion there is frequently such a marked change 

 in the voice that he can not whinny naturally. 



The sexual desire may remain unaffected throughout the 

 disease. In many stallions, the power to copulate is but little 

 impaired, but in the earlier stages, during the tumefaction 

 of the prepuce and penis, either from excessive erection or 

 from other cause, the stallion fails in many cases to effect 

 coition, and, late in the course of disease, the same inability 



