GRANULAR VENEREAL DISEASE AND ABORTION IN CATTLE. 5 
SYMPTOMS. 
The essential clinical symptom of the granular venereal disease 
consists of the appearance in the valvar mucosa, protruding above 
its surface, of nodular, conical, spheroidal, or flat elevations, usually 
1 to 2 millimeters in diameter. They are best observed clinically by 
holding the vulvar lips apart and causing a strong light to enter 
the vulva obliquely. The examination may be conducted advanta- 
geously in a well-lighted stable, by having the animal placed with 
her posterior parts presenting toward a window somewhat above 
the level of her back. The examiner then grasps each vulvar Up 
between the thumb and fingers, and, drawing the lips backward and 
outward, exposes the interior of the vulva to vision. The light, 
falling obliquely into the vulvar cavity illuminates it well, and, by 
refraction, the nodules are brought clearly into view. 
In order to examine every part, the examiner should shift his 
position again and again, that he may view such area at the proper 
angle. In order to examine satisfactorily the roof of the vulva, the 
eye of the examiner should be on an approximately horizontal line 
with the mucosa. Highly satisfactory examinations may also be 
made in dark stables or at night with the aid of a good reflecting lamp. 
The nodules are also recognizable upon digital palpation, the 
elevations being very evident to the sense of touch. At times digital 
palpation may have an advantage over vision because, as related 
below, even when the nodules are abundant, the mucosa may be 
edematous to such a degree that the nodules are rendered invisible, 
the thickened, edematous mucosa serving to cover them from view, 
though still palpable. 
Under the prevailing conditions in American dairy herds, and so 
far as we know in the dairy herds of the world, heifer calves usually 
develop clinical signs of the disease at from 4 to 12 weeks of age, and 
from that time through adult lif e to old age present a series of interesting 
vacillations of intensity so great that various writers have designated 
these manifestations as acute, subacute, chronic, cured, sound, etc. 
If the newborn heifer calf is kept in the same stable with dairy 
cows, perhaps in contact for two or three days with her dam, is fed 
and handled by persons who are in close contact with the cows, and 
placed in a common inclosure with older infected calves, the vulvar 
mucosa usually appears normal, smooth, moist, pale rose-colored 
for a period varying from 4 to 12 weeks, or even longer, when 
visual inspection reveals the presence of several or many spheroido- 
conical nodules in the vulvar mucosa 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter. 
They are usually solitary until they become very numerous, when 
they tend to become arranged in rows. They are most frequently 
colorless or faintly yellowish in the center and present the appear- 
ance of small, tense vesicles, but upon close examination they are 
