346 
W. L. WILLIAMS. 
resembling stringhalt, the bocks being suddenly flexed and carried 
forward with a jerk. As the disease advances the lameness 
usually increases, the back becomes arched, the hind feet are 
dragged along the ground, until finally the paralysis becomes so 
severe that the animal is unable to rise when down, and in their 
struggles to get up, it is said that fractures sometimes occur in the 
bones of the loins or hips. Emaciation usually begins early in the 
disease and increases rapidly when the paralytic symptoms develop, 
until the animal soon presents a hideous sight, the whole body 
being wasted to a mere skeleton, in spite of the fact that the appe¬ 
tite remains unimpaired to the last and the food appears to be well 
digested. Late in the course of the disease there is occasionally 
seen paralysis of a lip or an ear. 
Death may be due to a gradual giving way of the animal powers 
from the extreme marasmus, or to pneumonia or other accidental 
- complications. 
IN THE STALLION 
the general symptoms are essentially the same as in the mare, so 
we will need mainly to consider the local manifestations of the 
disease in the genital organs. Its commencement is far more in¬ 
sidious in the stallion than in the mare, being in many cases 
wholly unrecognizable for months. Sometimes the symptoms 
appear early, while in other cases the development of the disease 
is tardy and and apparently unnoticeable; or, the primary symptoms 
may appear for a few days or weeks, then disappear entirely and 
the stallion remain apparently w T ell for months, although he is 
returned to the stud (which doubtless aggravates the disease) and 
yet be capable of transmitting the malady at least six months later, 
probably several years, without affording other evidence of disease. 
Usually the first noticeable sign of disease is a well marked pecu¬ 
liar swelling of the prepuce, of an indolent, doughy nature, which 
may extend forward to and implicate the anterior part of the 
sheath and backward to and including the scrotum, the skin being 
thickened, smooth and shining. These symptoms may disappear 
entirely in a few days to a few weeks, and leave no tangible trace 
of the disease, except the power of transmitting it to other animals, 
or it may remain for some months or years, either to be compli¬ 
cated with, or succeeded by, other symptoms. 
