S.

By JAMES LAW, F. R. C. V. S.,

Formerly Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University.

CONGESTION AND INFLAMMATION OF THE TESTICLES, OR ORCHITIS.

In the prime of life, in vigorous health, and on stimulating feed,
stallions are subject to congestion of the testicles, which become
swollen, hot, and tender, but without any active inflammation. A
reduction of the grain in the feed, the administration of 1 or 2 ounces
of Glauber's salt daily in the feed, and the bathing of the affected
organs daily with tepid water or alum water will usually restore them to
a healthy condition.

When the factors producing congestion are extraordinarily potent, when
there has been frequent copulation and heavy grain feeding, when the
weather is warm and the animal has had little exercise, and when the
proximity of other horses or mares excites the generative instinct
without gratification, this congestion may grow to actual inflammation.
Among the other causes of orchitis are blows and penetrating wounds
implicating the testicles, abrasions of the scrotum by a chain or rope
passing inside the thigh, contusions and frictions on the gland under
rapid paces or heavy draft, compression of the blood vessels of the
spermatic cord by the inguinal ring under the same circumstances, and,
finally, sympathetic disturbance in cases of disease of the kidneys,
bladder, or urethra. Stimulants of the generative functions, like rue,
savin, tansy, cantharides, and damiana, may also be accessory causes of
congestion and inflammation. Finally, certain specific diseases, like
dourine, glanders, and tuberculosis, localized in the testicles, will
cause inflammation.

_Symptoms._--Apart from actual wounds of the parts, the symptoms of
orchitis are swelling, heat, and tenderness of the testicles, straddling
with the hind legs alike in standing and walking, stiffness and dragging
of the hind limbs or of the limb on the affected side, arching of the
loins, abdominal pain, manifested by glancing back at the flank, more or
less fever, elevated body temperature, accelerated pulse and breathing,
lack of appetite, and dullness. In bad cases the scanty urine may be
reddish and the swelling may extend to the skin and envelopes of the
testicle, which may become thickened and doughy, pitting on pressure.
The swelling may be so much greater in the convoluted excretory duct
along the upper border of the testicle as to suggest the presence of a
second