CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 53 



system. This variability is common with fowls, with lUgs, .tiid with carnivora. The 

 predomiuance of the cerebro-spiiial aft'ectiou mauifests itselt iu various dei'rees of 

 iutensity ; it may be arrested after development when the exciting cause, the aliment- 

 ary use of ergot of rye, has ceased. In the first place, there is vertigo; the animals 

 stumble as if they were intoxicated; they lose their ecjuilibrium, fall on the side and 

 remain in a slate of drowsiness, which is not dissipated even when they arise. The 

 hair and feathers lose their luster; the temperature of the skin is lowered • there is 

 antesthesia, the insensibility following a condition of hypcriesthesia ; this alterna- 

 tion afiects also the sight and the hearing (Wright). It is unmistakable in the canine 

 species ; the pupils are constantly dilated. The symptoms of narcotism that we have 

 just enumerated persist or are interrupted by convulsive i)henomena, sometimes of 

 the limbs only, and sometimes of the whole body. The general convulsions are char- 

 acterized by tetanic epileptic attacks usually followed by temporary paralysis of the 

 posterior parts. The suffering is sometimes so intense that it is manifested by plaintive 

 cries and contortions. The nervous attack over, the animal falls again into a condition 

 of apathy or drowsiness. If the spasm is limited to the limbs, there remains after the 

 attack a contraction which persists for a certain length of time. 



These phenomena which characterize spasmodic ergotism have an indefinite dura- 

 tion. Death may occur after a few hours or a few days as a result of a paroxysm, 

 or the disease may be more prolonged and take a chronic form. The nutrition suf- 

 fers; the animals become thin in spite of the appetite, which, however, is irregular, 

 and finally a convulsion at last destroys them in an advanced condition of marasuius- 

 The circulation is abnormal, the pulse is slow, accelerated but afterwards retarded; 

 the arterial and cardiac contractions are spasmodic. 



The i)articipation of the digestive tube, which may be either the principal or the 

 accessory cause of the cerebro-spinal affection, is announced by nausea, pharyngial 

 spasms, vomiting, diarrhea, sometimes followed by an insatiable hunger. If this is 

 satisfied the food does not alleviate the hunger, for it causes convulsions. In the 

 south all these symptoms may be preceded by gangrenous accidents ; the latter may 

 also precede when the circulatory lesion is the first to occur. With the galliuaceans 

 the crest becomes cold, takes a violet or black color, shrivels, and dries; these phe- 

 nomena are also quite constant in the north, but the dessication of the beak, some- 

 times of the feet, constitutes an alteration exclusive to the south ; gangrenous i»atches 

 also cover the abdominal walls (Millet). In gangrenous ergotism of the palmipeds, 

 besides the beak, there is sometimes seen mortification of the point of the tongue 

 (Tessier), and of the iuterdigital membrane which is discolored and becomes dry and 

 brittle; then the digits are lost (Decoste). With mammals the gangrene attacks the 

 lower part of one or several limbs, the ears or the tail; these parts become red as if 

 they were the seat of an erysipelatous infiammation ; the color changes to violet, to 

 blue, or to black ; they become mummified and detached when the convulsive pjir- 

 oxysm has not destroyed life before the completion i)f the work of elimination. While 

 this is occurring the loss of flesh progresses and marasmus comes on, then, finally, a 

 convulsive movement which destroys the patient. The munnniflcatiou also attacks 

 isolated muscles and iu very exceptional cases the dry form of gangrene is associated 

 with the humid form (Tessier). The pulse remains small, feeble, slow, or indeed it 

 becomes accelerated, fel)rile, and precipitates marasnnis. 



Sheep which are subject to convulsive ergotism, are probably also subject to the 

 gangrenous form. We have abstained from considering it iu the symptomatology be- 

 cause we have not met with documents which authorize us to generalize the symp- 

 toms and to extend them to the ovine species. 



The gangrenous form is the only one which has been observed with the bovine 



species; it remains local and is not complicated with the greater part of the general 



symptoms which may precede it with the other species of the domestic animals that 



have just been referred to. The appetite is preserved, the muzzle remains moist, 



nd the expression of the eye is not changed. These signs of health often remain 



