138 Veterinary Obstetrics 



eases, like osteoporosis, rickets and in other chronic disorders 

 which depress the general vigor of the animal. 



Overwork serves to inhibit the breeding functions, so that 

 animals subjected to severe work are strongly inclined to be 

 sterile for the time. In animals which are severely, but not over- 

 worked, as in stallions which are being trained for the turf, 

 there is usually a temporary sterility, without any evidence of 

 disease or degeneration of the glands. The resources of the 

 animal are wholly consumed in the physical work which is 

 demanded and there remains no reserve force to provide repro- 

 ductive energy during this period. 



Starvation has a like effect upon the reproductive powers so 

 that anj- animal which does not receive sufficient food to main- 

 tain the general vigor of the system and .afford a moderate re- 

 serve for reproductive energies tends to become sterile during 

 the period of want. 



The remedies for these conditions are suggested by the causes, 

 they are usually but temporary and run a parallel course to the 

 causes themselves. Whenever these are removed or naturally 

 cease, the reproductive powers become spontaneously restored. 



2. Idleness and Over-feeding. Impotence of the male is 

 frequently expressed chiefly by an absence of sexual desire, 

 without any changes of the sexual organs which can be detected. 

 The male shows but slight sexual desire or none at all in the 

 presence of females which are properly in estrum. At one time 

 he may pay some attention to the female, with a more or less 

 complete erection of the penis, and then desist in his attentions, 

 and tiarn away. When the next female is presented, he may 

 show normal sexual vigor. 



In some cases, there is alleged to be an individual psychic in- 

 fluence which prevents the male from copulating with a certain 

 female. This is alleged to be especially true of some stallions, 

 to which certain mares seem to be repulsive, and they refuse to 

 serve them. The presence of young at the side of the dam is 

 sometimes alleged to repress the sexual appetite of the male. This 

 is usually .seen, however, only in those males depressed in their 

 vitality by improper handling. It is almost, if not always, 

 erroneous to attribute this trouble to the caprice or idiosyncracies 

 of the male by which a female of a certain type or color becomes 



