524 
REVIEW. 
be obliged to state how many mares have been covered by his 
horse. Recently considerable attention has been paid to the 
subject of fatty degeneration; and we observe that Mr. Acton 
has already called the notice of his profession to the fact, that 
obesity is a frequent cause of sterility ; he says, page 74, that — 
"At the Veterinary College I have had various opportunities of seeing 
this exemplified. It is noticed that impotence in bulls* occurs rarely in 
the commoner sorts. Those sent to the College, in consequence of not 
getting stock, are found to be the highly -bred animals • and this is not 
to be wondered at, as competitors for prizes care little about prolific 
bearers.” 
We shall close these observations by recommending the 
work to the favorable notice of our profession. 
* “ That fat alone in bulls does not produce impotence, is shown in the fol- 
lowing instance : — Professor Simonds kindly showed me a short-horned 
bull (June, 1856), which had been sent to the College on account of im- 
potency. It was a magnificent animal, just brought back from the Paris 
Agricultural Show. The animal was very fat, and suffering from disease of 
the feet. It had served cows well until it was noticed to suffer from 
" bull-burnt,” (clap) — a not uncommon affection in this class of beast. He 
was treated by injections ; sloughing, however, came on, and an abscess was 
opened in the sheath. This was followed by warts, which were picked, 
burnt, or cut off. The animal, when mounting a cow, was said to have but 
a partial erection — that is to say, the root of the penis was erect, but the 
glans remained flaccid ; and this condition was attributed by the owner to 
the animal’s having struck the point of the organ against the ischium of the 
cow. The authorities of the College (I was unable to be present), brought 
a cow up to the animal, and after some difficulty a mount was obtained, 
when the surgeons noticed that the glans presented several openings or 
fistulae, showing that abscess had occurred here, and it was pierced like 
a watering-pot. There was a good deal of fetid discharge from the prepuce, 
as well as the sheath, but I was told that treatment is very difficult, a3 
the penis of the bull is powerfully retracted within the prepuce (unlike the 
horse), and difficult to be denuded.” 
