56 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



spasm. The cerebral plienomena are probably only secoiidarj- and are due to the con- 

 geatiou of tlae brain and its envelopes ; the aua-niia of this organ wonld also account 

 for them. It is a law that local congestions go side b}^ side with local autemia ; when 

 ergotism becomes chronic, the anaMiua is generalized, a common result in all diseases 

 which are of long duration. The absence of exudations removes all idea of inflam- 

 mation, and if hepatization of the posterior lobes of the lungs has been fonnd, par- 

 ticularly with the gallinaceaus, this lesion is neither constant nor general. 



The uKMliiim dose of this agent for medicinal purposes is given by 

 Tabourin {Nouveau Traite de Nat. Med., etc., II, j). 447) as follows: Cat- 

 tle and horses, one-half to one ounce (16 to 32 grams); goats, sheep^ 

 and pigs, one to two drachms (4 to 8 grams) • dogs and cats, one-half 

 to one drachm (2 to 4 grams). Finley Dan says: A.s a parturient or 

 styptic, for the mare or cow, one-half to one ounce; for sheep, swine^ 

 and bitches, about one drachm (Yet. Medicine, f). 212). 



HISTORY OF ERGOTISM. 



Wood states that epidemics of ergotism or chronic ergotic poisoning have been 

 recorded from time to time since the days of Galen [130 to 200, A. D.] and of Ca'sar 

 [B. C, 100 to 44]. (Therap. Mat. Med. and Tox., 4th ed., p. 5(i.5.) There is much 

 reason for doubt, however, in regard to the diagnosis of cases occnrring before the 

 tenth century. 



Yerheyen says that, "From the ninth to the thirteenth centuries several grave epi- 

 demics appeared in France. The first chroniclers who made mention of them, faithful 

 to their traditional habit, confounded them under the generic denomination of plague 

 {pcste). In the tenth century these epidemics received a special name ; they were called 

 ignis saver, arsura, claudes sen pestis igiiiaria. In the twelfth century the nomenclature 

 was increased with the terms ignis sancti Antonii, aaneti Martialis, Beaia' Virginis, ignis 

 inrisibilis, sen infernaUs. All these expressions were used to designate one and the 

 same affection, which was no other than ergotism. 



The learned historian of the epidemics oi feu sacre of the Middle Ages, Professor 

 Fuchs (Das heilige Feuer im Mittelalter, Berlin, 1834), fixes the first invasion in the year 

 857. This explicit passage of the chronicle leaves no doubt in this regard. Plaga 

 magna vesicarum iurgentium grassatur in popnlo et detesfahili eos putredine consumsif, iia 

 ut membra dissohda ante mortem dedderunt. (Pertz, 11, 230.) The epidemic of 590 

 (Greg. Tur., X, 30) that some authors refer to the feu sacre, does not appear to us to 

 have presented the characters of this. Its course was extraordinarily rapid; it began 

 with a slight headache, a forerunner of death (ita ut modico quisquis a'grotus capitis 

 dotore, pulsatus, animam funderet). These morbid chai-acters can no more he consid- 

 ered ergotism than the very vague statement that near Limoges several were con- 

 sumed by the feu celeste with which some were burned in Tourraine {nonnulli ab hoc 

 igne sunt adusti). At the same time a very fatal epizootic occurred which did not spare 

 the deer. A great drought had destroyed the herbage ; it followed rains and inunda- 

 tions, conditions favorable to the evolution of charbonnons diseases. A fact support- 

 ing this view, as well as the opinion of Fuchs, is that rye, which is an Asiatic plant, 

 was only introduced into cultivation during the Middle Ages (Link). Admitting, 

 what is supposed, that Europe is indebted for it to the invasion of the Huns, it is still 

 A'ery necessary to take into iiccouut the condition of this part of the world before 

 concluding that at the end of the sixth century the new cereal had become generalized 

 and had entered into the regular agricultural rotation of Gaul. 



All the epidemics of feu sacre correspond to years which were characterized by a 

 rigorous winter followed by a very rainy summer, causing a deficiency in the harvests, 

 and bringing scarcity and fanune. The »q)idcmics beg.au about the month of Septem- 

 ber or Octolier and terminated in the spring, unless the atmospheric condition of the 



