MALA.DIE DU COIT. 
299 
to dismiss the idea of spontaneity, while the fact that the disease, 
so far as can be learned, is wholly unknown in Texas, and that all 
Texas mares brought to De Witt County were doubtless w T ell until 
after being bred to affected stallions, should set at rest this theory 
of origin. 
The third and most tangible theory is that the disease w T as in¬ 
troduced direct from France, by the imported brown “ Moore 55 
horse (No. XV.), now owned by J. Fisher, Clinton, Ill., imported 
in 1882 by Benson & Knapp, Monticello, Ill., at the age of three 
years, sold in spring of 1883 to Moore & Son, Clinton, Ill., and 
by them was placed in the stud near Clinton, serving a large num¬ 
ber of mares besides those belonging to his owners, a fair percent- • 
age of which became impregnated and dropped healthy foals. In 
1884 he was continued for a time in the stud without any com¬ 
plaint from patrons, but before the season was far advanced the 
horse became unwell. The genital organs became swollen and the 
penis sore in several places. At the ring of the penis (preputial 
ring) there was sufficient ulceration to destroy the ring at the 
front part. At the upper part of each flank there were extensive 
ulcerating sores, which healed tardily, leaving large unsightly 
scars. On the left side of the crest of the neck there appears a 
very plain brand, of the letters D N, which I am reliably informed 
by Prof. Law and Dr. P. Pacpfln, unmistakably indicates that this 
horse had been condemned by the French veterinary authorities 
for maladie du coit. The horse was sold some time after the de¬ 
velopment of the symptoms of disease, for a merely nominal sum, 
as a seriously diseased stallion, to his present owners, after having 
been taken from the stud and treated for his malady with indif¬ 
ferent results, and in 1886 and 1887 the horse’s services were 
offered to owners of mares, but only a limited patronage was 
obtained. Nothing particularly farther was thought of the matter 
until the disease broke out in alarming proportions and inquiry 
was instituted to determine its origin, when it was learned that in 
1883 Milton Chapin bred two black mares to the Moore horse and 
disposed of one to Sandusky Wilson, and the two mares were bred 
in 1884 to Utopia (XII) before he was sold to Foley & Seniff. It 
is now said that one or both of these mares were affected with 
