£94 
EDITORIAL. 
case of melanhemia, these growths are most injurious to the 
economy; either by the alteration of the structure of the organs, 
which thus are deprived of their functional powers ; or by the 
great quantity of material which they assimilate; or by the pos¬ 
sibility of hemorrhage, which may accompany the rupture of 
vascular organs, where they may develop themselves, as in the 
spleen and the liver. 
Though white animals are mostly the ones affected, bays and 
chestnut horses are not free from this disease. Dogs of all 
colors have shown them, and Bruckmuller says that white dogs 
never present them. 
Melanotic diathesis is an hereditary disease, as it was demon¬ 
strated by the observations of Brugnone, Prinz, Gohier and others. 
And it is by heredity that it was introduced in some country 
where a white stallion, having been used for breeding purposes, 
had all his produces, male and female, affected in the same way. 
It is remarkable, however, that animals thus affected have great 
power of reproduction, and Girard, jr. attributes this condition to 
the irritation that these tumors may produce upon the organ con¬ 
tained within the pelvic cavity. 
The curability of the disease may be considered under two 
points of view. It is incurable if the accumulation of pigmenta¬ 
ry substance is only considered, as it is not in our power to pre¬ 
vent it; but if merely the treatment of one local tumor is con¬ 
sidered, it may be possible to remove it, if even of large size, and 
heal up entirely. But there is no need to be hasty in interfering 
with the presence of one of these tumors, unless it interferes 
with work or some special function; as it has been observed that 
the removal of one is often the cause of a new life in the devel¬ 
opment or growth of other melanotic deposits, which otherwise 
might have remained perfectly harmless. 
EDITORIAL. 
THE MEETING OF THE UNITED STATES VETERINARY MEDICAL 
ASSOCIATION. 
As we announced in our last number, the Sixteenth Annual 
Meeting of the United States Veterinary Medical Association 
