790 THE VENEREAL DISEASE OF HORSES, AND ITS 
applies particularly to the genito-urinary organs of animals. 
When labouring under a certain degree of inflammation, these 
furnish a secretion which, applied to another sound mucous sur- 
face, has the property of exciting an irritation, at the close of 
which is developed inflammation more or less intense, following 
the energy with which the morbid fluid acts, or, rather, the sus- 
ceptibility of the tissue on which it has been received : but it 
remains yet to be proved that this morbid product is of a syphi- 
litic character. 
“ In the course of a long practice we have not failed to meet 
with cases that many would have mistaken for syphilis. We 
have particularly observed and treated, in the genital organs of 
the entire horse, irritations, inflammations, paraphymosis, dis- 
charges, ulcerations ; phlegmonous affections that have been ex- 
ceedingly obstinate; enlargements of the inguinal lymphatic 
glands; enlargements of the testicles — all this we have seen, but 
we had never the slightest suspicion that there was any thing 
syphilitic in the matter. We never had recourse to anti-venereal 
treatment, but were content with antiphlogistic measures, modi- 
fied by the peculiar circumstances which the case indicated, and 
we never have had occasion to repent of the course we pursued. 
“ The affection in the horse that has been mistaken for syphilis 
has, at its beginning, been irritation or inflammation about the 
glans of the penis, and the membrane that covers it ; then, ex- 
tending along the penis, the inflammation has attacked the mem- 
brane forming the inner lining of the sheath. W hen this irrita- 
tion is not accompanied by any morbid secretion, the parts be- 
come inflamed, red, and painful. When a morbid exudation 
accompanies this, the natural moisture of the parts is increased, 
is more consistent, has a strong, penetrating, and sometimes 
foetid smell — a whitish serosity is secreted, and mingles with it; 
and in this case, the epidermis which covers the penis becomes 
separated in the form of little films or plates. The disease con- 
tinuing, considerable swelling takes place, and phymosis or para- 
phymosis ensues. If the inflammation is more intense in some 
places than in others, little circumscribed red spots begin to 
appear, small vesicles form and break, and a small ulcer is esta- 
blished, improperly called a chancre. 
“ The inflammation is not always confined to the external surface 
which is first affected. It extends sometimes to the membrane 
of the urethra, and causes certain morbid secretions from it, more 
or less abundant. These constitute the discharge which is some- 
times so abundant and so obstinate, and also the ulceration and 
swelling sometimes found. There is nothing more extraordinary 
in this than in other cases of phlegmasia. The time when this 
