140 Veterinary Obstetrics 



exercise for these animals. Incidentally, it should be noted that 

 such exercise or work tends very strongly to prevent that vicious- 

 ness in bulls and other breeding males, which renders them dan- 

 gerous to their keepers. 



Zschokke emphasizes the value of the proper selection of food 

 for the purpose of arousing a sexual desire and especially insists 

 that the hay should be of an aromatic character, as should also 

 the oats. Not only should they be well cured and sweet smelling, 

 but he believes that the admixture of certain stimulants like 

 calamus, pepper, powdered mustard, and even powdered canthar- 

 cides, are advantageous. He recommends that these remedies 

 should be fed with cut hay and should be allowed for two or three 

 days in succession and then omitted for a like period, when they 

 may be given again. 



We doubt very greatly the value of aphrodisiacs, or sexual 

 stimulants, in breeding animals. Sexual instinct is so normal a 

 phenomenon and so universal in animals of breeding age and 

 proper health that we fail to see the value of exciting sexual de- 

 sire artificially. The function belongs normally to every male or 

 female of breeding age and, if it is absent, it is because of some 

 depression in the general vigor of the animal, which cannot read- 

 ily be removed by aphrodisiacs. It has not been shown that the 

 arousal of sexual appetite by means of these drugs insures or even 

 favors fertility. A constant and wide distinction must be drawn 

 between copulation and fecundation. The fundamental function 

 of the male is the elaboration of virile spermatozoa or male cells, 

 while copulation merely serves to transfer these fecunding cells 

 from the testes of the male to the vagina of the female. Copu- 

 lation is in vain without vigorous spermatozoa and we have no 

 data to show or suggest that any drug may directly cause or favor 

 their development. 



Certainly, we must admit that tonics, alteratives, or other 

 drugs which are capable of favorably influencing the restoration 

 of a diseased animal to a healthy state must also improve its re- 

 productive powers by restoring the equilibrium of the body and 

 enabling it to better perform all its normal functions, among 

 which is reproduction. The highest state of the general vigor of 

 the body is, consequently, the most favorable condition for the 

 production of virile spermatozoa, which constitute the first essen- 

 tial in the fertility of the male animal. 



