DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 



By James Law, F. R. C. V. S., 

 Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University. 



Diseases of the generative organs are practically confined to animals 

 which are kept for reproduction and the dairy. The castration of 

 the bull condemns these organs to inactivity and protects them from 

 the many causes of injury attendant on the engorged blood vessels 

 in the frequent periods of sexual excitement, on the exposure to 

 mechanical violence, and on the exposure to infective inoculation. 

 In three respects the castrated male is especially subject to disease: 

 {1) To inflammation and tumefaction of the cut end of the cord that 

 supported the testicle and of the loose connective tissue of the scro- 

 tum ; (2) to inflammation of the sheath and penis from the accumu- 

 lation of gravel in the former, from which the penis is not usually 

 protruded in passing water; and (3) to bruising, abrasion, and inflam- 

 mation of the sheath and penis during suspension in the stocks for 

 the purpose of shoeing. Apart from these, the ox is practically almost 

 exempt from the inflammations and injuries of the genital organs. 

 The same applies to the castrated heifer. Inflammation may occur in 

 the broad ligament of the womb whence the ovary has been removed, 

 or infective inflammation in the abdominal cavity (peritonitis) in case 

 the operation has been performed through the flank, as it usually is 

 in the young heifer. Apart from these, the castrated heifer is prac- 

 tically immune from any trouble of the generative apparatus. Even 

 the virgin heifer is little subject to such troubles, though she is not 

 exempt from inflammations, and above all, morbid growths in the 

 ovaries which are well developed and functionally very active after 

 the first year, or in precocious animals after the first few months of 

 life. The breeding cow, on the other hand, is subjected to all the 

 disturbances attendant on the gradual enlargement of the womb, the 

 diversion of a large mass of blood to its walls, the constant drain of 

 nutrient materials of all kinds for the nourishment of the fetus, the 

 risks attendant and consequent on abortion and parturition, the dan- 

 gers of infection from the bull, the risks of sympathetic disturbance 

 in case of serious diseases of other organs, but preeminently of the 

 urinary organs and the udder, and finally the sudden extreme 

 derangements of the circulation and of the nervous functions which 

 attend on the sudden revulsion of a great mass of blood from the 

 walls of the contracting womb into the body at large immediately 

 after calving. 

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