BELLADONNA AND ACORN POISONING 259 



to the head, and give I quart linseed oil and chloral hydrate 

 in 4-drachm doses. Before turning cattle out to graze, the 

 pastures should be carefully searched and cleared of poisonous 

 plants." 



Belladonna poisoning. In dry, hot summers when grass 

 is scarce, cattle pick about hedges and waste places, near old 

 buildings where the deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna^ 

 grows. " The symptoms of poisoning from this drug are short 

 and quick breathing, signs of excitement, eyes widely dilated, 

 colicky pains, stiffness of hind limbs." Treatment. Give 

 laudanum in 2-oz. doses in oil every three hours till symptoms 

 are relieved, and cold applications to the head, and bleeding 

 in the excited stage. 



Ergot of Rye. Ergot is a fungus which attacks the 

 flowering heads of grasses generally, and is never found on 

 the leaves. Cases of ergotism occur only when grasses are 

 in flower or seed. Rye grass and others of the large-seeded 

 grasses are very susceptible of attack, and are most liable to 

 produce injury. The fungus may also be found on certain 

 of the small-seeded grasses, as on benty pastures,- which on 

 account of the wiry nature of the herbage have not been closely 

 eaten in spring. 



" Ergot causes abortion in cattle and horses, but rarely 

 in sheep. The smaller ruminants are not far enough 

 advanced in pregnancy in the late summer and early autumn 

 when the ergot appears. Ergot produces symptoms of 

 poisoning other than abortion, namely, intestinal pains, 

 diarrhoea, and ulcerated eruptions on the lips, and the 

 animal becomes dull and comatose, and finally paralysed, 

 especially in the hind limbs." 



In chronic cases the lower extremities become gangrenous 

 and the hoofs slough. The animals die of starvation if not 

 attended to. The stock should be removed to fresh pastures, 

 and the symptoms usually pass off naturally, although 

 relapses may occur for a considerable time. As a preventa- 

 tive all affected seed-stems should be mown, swampy places 

 drained and improved, and ditches and hedge sides trimmed. 



Acorn poisoning takes place when large quantities of 

 green acorns are blown down early in the season from oak 

 trees growing in pasture. Serious loss from death often 

 occurs among young stock (milch cows and cattle over three 



