GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE AND ABORTION IN CATTLE. 15 
character, with rarely a trace of skeletal stroma or of blood vessels 
among them. Such structures, it would seem, would be rapidly 
and completely dissipated by physiologically active tissues as soon 
as the irritant which has caused them had abated. This view is fully 
borne out clinically. Under varying conditions the numbers of 
nodules decrease rapidly. If the vagina is merely kept well douched 
with warm water and a mild antiseptic, a large percentage of the 
nodules disappear. If the nodules constitute the basic clinical 
phenomenon of the malady, it is difficult, considering their structure, 
to understand why, if the disease disappears, the basic symptom of it 
should not promptly follow 
It is upon the partial disappearance of the nodules, muco-purulent 
vulvar discharge, etc., that the allegations of cure appear generally 
to be based. In other cases, however, the allegation of cure rests upon 
the swelling and edema caused in the vulvar mucosa by the applica- 
tion of an alleged remedy, by which the nodules are hidden. It is 
analogous to certain cures for exostoses on the legs of horses, wherein 
the neighboring soft tissues become so swollen and edematous from 
the application of the remedy that the exostosis is no longer apparent. 
Referring to Table 1, in the group of cows 4 years old and over 
it may be assumed with safety that these animals had had an oppor- 
tunity to recover spontaneously during a period of probably six 
years on an average, with the result that 85 per cent still showed 
the evidences of the disease. If we turn to Table 2, it will be found 
that, of the 13 per cent marked negative, nearly 40 per cent may have 
been masked by advanced pregnancy, recent parturition, or pyometra. 
Considering that other diseases and conditions at times cause the 
symptoms to be temporarily masked, it is apparent that this group 
of animals had made no marked advancement toward spontaneous 
recovery. 
Although continental European veterinary periodicals are well 
filled with contributions by leading veterinarians recounting the cure 
of the disease by various remedies, in many cases in the phenomenal 
time of 10 to 20 days, we have faithfully applied many of these over 
prolonged periods and have as yet not observed a single cure, 
evidently, again, because of a variation in the definition of a cure. 
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE. 
The importance of the granular venereal disease has been variously 
estimated by different investigators. As shown by Table 1, the dis- 
ease is so universal that its presence may be made to afford an ex- 
planation for a great variety of ailments. When there is added to 
this the fact stated above of the wide divergence of opinion as to the 
clinical diagnosis of the disease, it naturally follows that different 
