244 Journal of Agriculture. [8 April, 1907. 



which, as above indicated, may be taken as epitomizing the present avail- 

 able information on the subject: — 



■' There has been reported, during tlie last few months_i^ from various 

 parts of Australia, a number of cases of the so-called ' spotted fever ' of 

 mankind. Technically, the disease is known as cerebro-spinal meningitis, 

 i.e., an inflammation of the covering membranes of the brain and of the 

 spinal cord. So far as its course, symptoms, and morbid changes are 

 concerned, this disease is identical with the cerebro-spinal meningitis of 

 horses and other animals, which is known under the common name of 

 ' staggers,' sometimes differentiated as grass .staggers, stomach staggers, 

 and mad staggers. This term has reference to the most prominent 

 symptom, viz., a staggering gait produced bv the want of co-ordinative 

 power of the muscles resulting from the interference with nervous action 

 caused by the pressure of inflammatory products at the base of the brain 

 and spinal cord, or by derangement of the locomotor nerve centres. On 

 account of outbreaks of the disease being in most instances associated with 

 a particular set of feeding or grazing conditions, the disease is also gene- 

 rally known as ' forage poisoning.' 



"The interest which has been created by the occurrence of so-called 

 ' spotted fever ' in widely-separated parts of Australia,, and the fact that 

 during the past year there have been two or three occurrences of disease 

 amongst horses, and one, at least,' amongst cattle in Victoria and South 

 Australia, the history and character of which have been strongly sugges- 

 tive of outbreaks of forage poisoning or staggers — these circumstances 

 appear to warrant that interest will be taken in a short recountal of such 

 reliable information as is available regarding the disease in animals. 



" Natup.e of the Disease. ■ 



" Neither the common name, staggers, nor the technical name, cerebro- 

 spinal meningitis, conveys a correct idea of the nature of the disease. The 

 former refers to one of the symptoms only, and the latter to a condition 

 of inflammation of the brain coverings, which does not always exist — in 

 the horse at all events. The disease is essentially an affection or derange- 

 ment — probably a poisoning — of the large nerve centres, the brain and 

 spinal cord, which are the principal seats of nerve-motor and nerve-sensory 

 power. As a consequence of their derangement their functions are sus- 

 pended or aberrated, and there, succeeds a train of symptoms, all of which 

 are connected with those functions of the body controlled by the nerves 

 given off from the brain and spinal cord. Thus, according as certain 

 parts of the latter organs are affected there will be paralysis or loss of 

 muscular power, drowsiness and stupor, or great excitability, delirium, and 

 madness. It used to be considered that these conditions were the result 

 of irritation reflected by so-called ' sympathy ' from thd stomach or bowels 

 to the brain or spinal cord, because in most cases there is some derange- 

 ment of the stomach or bowels — either impaction, irritability, or some such 

 trouble, hence the name ' stomach staggers.' But it is now known that 

 these stomach symptoms are the effect, and not the cause, of the brain 

 troubles. 



" Causes. 



" Experiments and observations bv European veterinarians have 

 forced the conclusion that the disease is caused by a perm, but, whether 

 or not, the one giving rise to the disease in horses and other animals is 



