CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 45 



exclusively on the hay, aud it was among them alone that the effect ot 

 the ergot was seen. These facts I noted down as they were related to 

 lue on the spot by Mr. Pribbernow. 



"Another puzzle is presented by Mr. Keith buying G3 head of young 

 stock from Mr. Davis on the 15th of December, and on the 23d nearly 

 all were down with the disease. Keith's hay contains ergotized rye. 

 Davis has had no sickness in his herd." This statement is also very 

 incorrect, and yet it contains a reference to the one unsolved difKculty 

 connected with the Kansas outbreaks. The G3 head of cattle were pur- 

 chased December 10, and as the tirst cases of sickness on this fiirm did 

 not occur until the 23d or24:th, and as at the 1st of January there were 

 still less than thirty cases all told on tlie farm, it is plain that these ani- 

 mals had sufficient time to contract the disease after their i)urchase. 



The ditiiculty in regard to the ergot theory at Iveith's was in connec- 

 tion with another lot of cattle bought about the 15th or 20th of Decem- 

 ber. This lot consisted of 6 yearlings and 2 cows, some of which Mr. 

 Keith asserts were sick within three days and all within eight daj^s, 

 and that they were not fed upon hay during that time, but upon mowed 

 oats and corn-fodder. He admitted, however, that there was probably 

 hay in the racks to which tliey had access. There was much doubt as 

 to the days on which these cattle were first seen to be lame, and as to 

 how severely they were affected. It is also impossible to say, at this 

 time, on what they had been fed previous to their purchase. This diffi- 

 culty, however, does not (compare with that felt at first in regard to the 

 Goodrich herd, and as the latter was satisfactorily explained at the last 

 minute, it is not at all improbable that there are some unknown facts 

 in regard to the 8 cattle in question that would explain this case just 

 as satisfactorily. 



I have reviewed above the chief objections that have been advanced 

 to show that the disease in Kansas could not be ergotism. It is unnec- 

 essary to add that they are mostly of the nature of captious criticism. 

 The malady had been pronounced foot-and-mouth disease by some and 

 foot-rot or foul by others, and these gentlemen found it desirable to 

 make out at least an api)arent case against ergotism. In other sections 

 of this report I have given abundant evidence to show that it could be 

 nothing but ergotism, and the plates herewith presented, which were 

 carefully i)rei)ared by a competent artist, are sufficient to prove this 

 beyond doubt to any one who understands the pathology of these differ- 

 ent diseases. 



THE NATURE, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, AND ACTION OF ERGOT. 



The substance known as ergot is one of the stages in the life history 

 of a fungiis which has been named Claviceps purpurea. The term ergot 

 was a])pli(Ml to it by the French from its fancied resemblance to the spur 

 of a cock. The place which this fungus occupies in the i)lan of nature 



