290 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



places, the fungus investing the whole kernel. Rostrup mentions it as destruc- 

 tive to germinating barley. It also occurs upon ergotized rye and is regarded 

 by some mycologists as distinct from Fusarinm culmorum. It is probable 

 that the various species of Fusarium infesting cereals should be referred to 

 one species. 



Poisonous properties. Whether this fungus is responsible for the disease 

 referred to by Dr. Mayo and other veterinarians, has not been definitely deter- 

 mined. It is true that experiments made by Dr. Bitting, this writer, and 

 others, show that no doubt the Fusarium fed in considerable quantities to 

 cats and dogs has had an injurious effect. Cats did not relish milk in which 

 this material had been placed. If nothing more, Fusarium may be looked upon 

 as producing stomatatis. Prof. Sheldon refers this fungus to Fusarium 

 moniliforme. In the diseased horses reported by Dr. Peters the horses would 

 lose their hair and hoofs and were said to be alkalied. Cattle and hogs were 

 likewise said to lose their hair. Feeding experiments conducted on hogs with 

 this corn as well as with pure cultures reproduced the symptoms in experimental 

 animals. In this connection this statement of Dr. Law's is of interest : 



Fodders affected with cryptogams or bacterial ferments are undoubtedly at times the 

 cause of encephalitis. Veterinary records furnish many instances of wide spread attacks 

 of stomach staggers, abdominal vertigo, and cerebro-spinal meningitis in wet seasons, when 

 the fodders have been harvested in poor condition or when from inundation or accidental 

 exposure they have become permeated by cryptogams and microbes. Among comparatively 

 recent accounts of this are those of Martin and Varnell (musty oats), Lombroso, Depre, 

 Erbe, Pellizi, and Tireli (smuts), Bouley and Barthelemy (musty fodder), and Ray (fer- 

 mented potatoes). One of the most extended local outbreaks of cerebro-spinal congestion 

 I have ever seen, occurred in the pit mules of the Wilkesbarre coal mines, while fed on 

 Canadian hay which had been soaked with rain in transit and had undergone extensive fer- 

 mentation. It should be noted that there were the attendant factors of overwork, in antici- 

 pation of a strike, and a Sunday's holiday above ground in a bright summer sunshine. 



The experimental administration of moulds, smuts and microbes, have in the great 

 majority of cases led to little or no evil result (Gamgee, Mayo, Dinwiddle, etc.) and there 

 is a strong tendency to discredit the pathogenic action of these agents in reported out- 

 breaks. The safer conclusion perhaps would be, to recognize the fact that they are not 

 equally pathogenic under all conditions of their growth and administration. The oft- 

 recurring epizootics of brain disease in connection with wide spread spoiling of the fodders 

 in remote and recent times, probably imply that cryptogams or microbes and their products, 

 plus some condition not yet fully understood, are efficient concurrent factors. If we can 

 discover this as yet unknown factor and demonstrate that it operates with equal power in 

 the absence of cryptogams and ferments, as in their presence, it will be logical to pronounce 

 these latter as non-pathogenic under all circumstances. Until then cryptogams and bac- 

 teria must be held as probable factors. 



In recognizing how much cryptogams and bacteria vary under different conditions of 

 life, and what various products they elaborate at different stages of their growth, we can 

 theoretically explain the absence of the disease at one time and its presence at another 

 under what seem to be identical circumstances, as also the variety of symptoms shown in 

 different outbreaks. While this causation cannot be said to be absolutely proved. . it is 

 not antagonistic to the facts in many of the best observed outbreaks, and may serve as a 

 hypothetical working theory until actual demonstration can be furnished. The affection 

 suggests a narcotic poison introduced from without, rather than a disease due to a germ 

 propagated in the system. 



In all probability as we learn more of the true pathology of the disease, we shall 

 come to recognize not one, but several toxic principles, and several different affections 

 each with its characteristic phenomena in the somewhat indefinite affection still known as 

 cerebro-spinal meningitis. 



The malady has been described in horses, oxen, sheep, goats and dogs, attacking by 

 preference the young, which are not yet inured to the unknown poison, and by preference 

 in winter and spring, the periods of close stabling, dry feeding and shedding of the coat. 



