VENEREAL DISEASES IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
11 \ 
In reference to the first of these questions I may remind you 
that veterinary practitioners in this country are well acquainted 
with the fact that several of our domestic animals are sometimes 
affected with the disease known as goiiorrhcea or, as it is termed 
in cows, “ bull-burnt.” 
This specific form of urethritis , for such it is, occasionally 
makes its appearance in herds under such circumstances as to 
warrant the expression of an assumption that it is in such cases 
generated autogentically. 
I have myself seen it appear in herds in which neither the 
male nor the female members had ever been allowed to come in 
contact with other animals for procreative purposes, and I am 
well aware that other practitioners have seen it arise under iden¬ 
tical conditions. In the matter of the dog I have frequently had 
3ases brought to me in which the owners of the animals have de¬ 
clared that they (the dogs) had never been in contact with any 
female for copulative or other purposes. When once the disease 
arises in the male its spread is not difficult to explain, and I have 
aotes of some cases in a number of mares which came under the 
observation of one of my late pupils, Mr. Barclay, of Dunferm¬ 
line, and which were all traceable to infection from one stallion, 
who, it was subsequently shown, was the subject of the malady. 
In France there exists a well-known form of venereal disease, 
mown as “ La Maladie du Coit.” Happily—at least, so far as I 
know—the equine species in this country is exempted therefrom. 
Neither have I ever seen any such form of disease in the sheep or 
in the pig. 
As to how far gonorrhoea may be looked upon as a specific 
disease, I may first direct your attention to the fact that the literal 
meaning of the word used to designate this class of affection is 
cotally out of accord with its proper application. It signifies an 
3xeessive flow of semen—a condition sometimes observed in 
foung vigorous dogs when excited by the near proximity of oestral 
fitches, and which, owing to the fact that it is accompanied by 
aunefaction of the sheath and swelling of the testes, is confounded 
with the affection usually termed gonorrhoea. The use of the 
cerm is, however, warranted by custom and I do not feel disposed 
