Meningo — Encephalitis. Staggers. 97 



S3^mptoms in the dog, while that furnished by six pounds of the 

 seeds proved fatal to the horse. Pigs and cattle seemed to be 

 unaffected by the agent when given by the mouth. Sheep 

 suffered more but required large doses. Ducks and chickens 

 were practically immune, being affected only by very large doses. 

 Rabbits were not poisoned by the yellow etherial extract, but 

 succumbed to a watery extract. Brydon found that lambs 

 suffered extensively from eating the heads of the ryegrass. 



Lupins on certain lands produces an icteric disorder ac- 

 companied by cerebral symptoms but the result is not the same 

 under all conditions and it has been suspected that the .symptoms 

 were caused by cryptogams and their products. The same re- 

 mark applies to the brain s3'mptoms sometimes produced by 

 trefoil, equisetum and other plants. 



A great number of narcotic and narcotico-acrid plants pro- 

 duce nervous symptoms indicating cerebral congestion or inflam- 

 mation such as ranunculus, wild poppy, digitalis, fennel, oenanthe 

 crocata, hellebore, veratrum, conium,yew, tobacco, box, aconite, 

 cicuta virosa, even buckwheat at the time of flowering, vetch and 

 flax. 



Fodders affected with cryptogams or bacterial ferments are 

 undoubtedl}' 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 con- 

 dition, or when from inundation or accidental exposure they have 

 become permeated b}' cryptogams and microbes. Among com- 

 parativelv recent accounts of this are those of Martin and Var- 

 nell (musty oats), Lombroso, Depre, Krbe, Pellizi, and Tireli 

 (smuts), Boulev and Barthelemy (musty fodder), and Ray 

 (fermented potatoes). One of the most extended local out- 

 breaks of cerebro-spinal congestion I have 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 under- 

 gone extensive fermentation. It should be noted that there 

 were the attendant factors of overwork, in anticipation of a strike, 

 and a Sunday's holiday above ground in a bright summer 

 sunshine. 



The experimental administration of moulds, .smuts and mi- 

 7 



